bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Micro Soft Tissues Visualization Based on X-Ray Phase-Contrast Imaging
Authors: Zhang Lu , Luo Shuqian
Published: March 2012

The current imaging methods have a limited ability to visualize microstructures of biological soft tissues. Small lesions cannot be detected at the early stage of the disease. Phase contrast imaging (PCI) is a novel non-invasive imaging technique that can provide high contrast images of soft tissues by the use of X-ray phase shift. It is a new choice in terms of non-invasively revealing soft tissue details. In this study, the lung and hepatic fibrosis models of mice and rats were used to investigate the ability of PCI in microstructures observation of soft tissues. Our results demonstrated that different liver fibrosis stages could be distinguished non-invasively by PCI. The three-dimensional morphology of a segment of blood vessel was constructed. Noteworthy, the blood clot inside the vessel was visualized in three dimensions which provided a precise description of vessel stenosis. Furthermore, the whole lung airways including the alveoli were obtained. We had specifically highlighted its use in the visualization and assessment of the alveoli. To our knowledge, this was the first time for non-invasive alveoli imaging using PCI. This finding may offer a new perspective on the diagnosis of respiratory disease. All the results confirmed that PCI will be a valuable tool in biological soft tissues imaging.
The State of the Art of Medical Imaging Technology: from Creation to Archive and Back
Authors: Gao Xiaohong W , Qian Yu , Hui Rui
Published: March 2012

Medical imaging has learnt itself well into modern medicine and revolutionized medical industry in the last 30 years. Stemming from the discovery of X-ray by Nobel laureate Wilhelm Roentgen, radiology was born, leading to the creation of large quantities of digital images as opposed to film-based medium. While this rich supply of images provides immeasurable information that would otherwise not be possible to obtain, medical images pose great challenges in archiving them safe from corrupted, lost and misuse, retrievable from databases of huge sizes with varying forms of metadata, and reusable when new tools for data mining and new media for data storing become available. This paper provides a summative account on the creation of medical imaging tomography, the development of image archiving systems and the innovation from the existing acquired image data pools. The focus of this paper is on content-based image retrieval (CBIR), in particular, for 3D images, which is exemplified by our developed online e-learning system, MIRAGE, home to a repository of medical images with variety of domains and different dimensions. In terms of novelties, the facilities of CBIR for 3D images coupled with image annotation in a fully automatic fashion have been developed and implemented in the system, resonating with future versatile, flexible and sustainable medical image databases that can reap new innovations.
Nonlocal systems of BVPS with asymptotically sublinear boundary conditions
Authors: Goodrich Christopher
Published: March 2012

In this paper we consider a coupled system of second-order boundary value
problems with nonlocal, nonlinear boundary conditions. By imposing only a
condition of asymptotic sublinear growth on the nonlinear boundary
functions, we are able to achieve generalizations over existing works and,
in particular, we allow for the nonlocal terms to be able to be represented
as Lebesgue-Stieltjes integrals possessing signed Borel measures. Because we
only suppose the sublinearity of the nonlinear boundary functions at
positive infinity, we also remove many of the restrictive growth assumptions
found in other recent works on closely related problems. We conclude with a
numerical example to explicate the consequences of our main result.
The Impact of Tax Incentives on the Choice to Hold Shares Acquired from Employee Stock Option Exercises
Authors: Huston G. Ryan , Smith Thomas J.
Published: March 2012

This paper extends prior stock option literature by examining the impact of individual and corporate tax incentives on the decision to hold or sell shares acquired through the exercises of incentive stock options (ISOs) and non-qualified stock options (NQSOs). We focus on factors found in prior literature to be associated with the choice to hold or sell in the context of the type of stock option exercised. Specifically, we find that the positive (negative) relation found in prior literature between the decision to hold shares following exercise and future returns (depth) is associated more with NQSOs than ISOs, consistent with individual tax incentives. Examining corporate tax incentives, we find that corporate tax benefits mitigate insiders' likelihood to hold shares obtained from ISO exercise. Furthermore, we find evidence that firms compensate employees to forgo individual tax benefits associated with holding shares from ISO exercise, and as this compensation increases, insiders are more likely to sell following exercise.

JEL Classifications: H24; H25; J33.
The fractional oscillator as an open system
Authors: Tarasov Vasily
Published: March 2012

A dynamical system governed by equations with derivatives of non-integer order, such as the fractional oscillator, can be considered as an open (non-isolated) system with memory. Fractional equations of motion are obtained from the interaction between the system and the environment with power-law spectral density.
Upper and lower body coordination in FES-assisted sit-to-stand transfers in paraplegic subjects - A case study
Authors: Jović Jovana , Coste Christine Azevedo , Fraisse Philippe , Fattal Charles
Published: March 2012

The objective of the work presented is to improve functional electrical stimulation (FES) assisted sit-to-stand motion in complete paraplegic individuals by restoring coordination between the upper part of the subject’s body, under voluntary control, and the lower part of the body, under FES control. The proposed approach is based on the observation of trunk movement during rising motion and a detection algorithm, which triggers a pre-programmed stimulation pattern. We present a pilot study carried out on one T6 paraplegic subject. We validated the ability of the subject to produce repeatable trunk acceleration during sit-to-stand transfers under FES and, the ability of the system to trigger the stimulator at the desired instant in time. We also analyzed the influence of the timing of leg stimulation, relative to the trunk acceleration profile, on upper limb efforts applied during sit-to-stand motion.
Past and Present Pattern of Congenital Heart Disease at Dhaka Shishu Hospital: A Situation Analysis
Authors: Hussain Manzoor , Tahura Sarabon , Sayeed Md Abu , Rahman Md Mizanur , Rahman Md Mahbubur , Kar Suntanu Kumar
Published: March 2012

Background: Congenital heart disease (CHD) is the most common congenital problem in children. In order to avoid complications, reduce mortality and for proper management early detection of congenital heart disease is of utmost importance. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to find out a single tertiary center experience in disease pattern of CHD among children with comparative analysis of past and present situation. Methods: This study was conducted over a period of 2 years from January 2008 to December 2009 prospectively and another 2 years data was collected from hospital records from January 1998 to December 1999 retrospectively on all patients with the confirmed diagnosis of CHD admitted in Dhaka Shishu Hospital to compare present and past status. Patients from 1st day of life to 12 years of age were included in the study. Results: Acyanotic heart diseases were commonly found both in past and present (75% and 78.5% respectively) and among them Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD) was found the most common CHD (32.7% and 26.9% respectively). Atrial Septal Defect (ASD) was found 2nd most common CHD (25.6% and 21.2% respectively). Only 11.9% CHD were diagnosed during neonatal period in the past whereas 27.6% were diagnosed in the recent time. Rare CHD were detected more frequently in recent time. Conclusion: VSD is the commonest non-cyanotic lesion whereas TOF is the commonest cyanotic lesion both in past and present, though their frequency reduced than before. Early detection and detection of rare CHD during recent time may reflect the advancement of diagnostic skill and facilities as well as awareness. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjch.v34i2.10217 BJCH2010; 34(2): 51-55
Abstract from Current Literature Vol.34(2)
Authors: Editor The
Published: March 2012

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjch.v34i2.10223 BJCH2010; 34(2): 76-78
Popliteal Artery Injury: Short Term Outcome With or Without Skeletal Trauma
Authors: Khan Md Saifullah , Alam Sanurul , Ahmed Nasir Uddin
Published: March 2012

Short term outcome of popliteal artery injury with or without skeletal trauma was studied during the period from January 2005 to December 2005, in the department of cardiovascular surgery, National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Thirty patients undergoing surgical management for popliteal artery injury were divided equally into two groups, 15 patients with skeletal trauma (Group A) and 15 patients without skeletal trauma (Group B). Study shows that seven patients had postoperative complications in entire group, 6 in group A and one in group B. Postoperative infection was the most common complication (16.7% of total patients) in both groups accounting for 4 (26.6% within group) patients in group A and in one patient (6.7% within group) in group B respectively. Limb amputation is the most important parameter of outcome, which was needed in two patients (13.3% within group) of group A and in none of group B. Other complications were thrombosis, neurological deficit and absent distal pulse, all of which occurred exclusively in group A. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/uhj.v7i1.10204 UHJ 2011; 7(1): 16-18
New Drugs for Acute Heart Failure
Authors: Salman Mohammad , Allahsan Syed , Mahmood Manzoor , Anam Md Khairul , Anwar Shahed Mohammad , Afrose Roksana , Afrose Md Abu , Uddin Sultan Md Ashraf , Rahman Fazlur
Published: March 2012

Acute heart failure is a major health problem responsible for several million hospitalizations worldwide each year. Standard therapy has not changed for long time and includes diuretics and variable use of vasodilators or inotropes. Recently Nesiritide and Levosimendan are two drugs for the treatment of acute heart failure which have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Medicines Agency (EMEA), respectively. There was little concern that Nesiritide can worsen the renal failure but recent trials had abolished this concern. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/uhj.v7i1.10208 UHJ 2011; 7(1): 35-38
A Rare Case of Congenitally Corrected Transposition of Great Arteries with Complete Heart Block
Authors: Rahman Muhammed Mustafizur , Rahman Md Arifur , Siddique Md Abu , Ahmed Md Khurshed , Uddin Sultan Md Ashraf
Published: March 2012

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/uhj.v7i1.10212 UHJ 2011; 7(1): 53-55
Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting in Patients with Intracoronary Stent Related Complications
Authors: Siraj Masoom , Hasan Md Sharif
Published: March 2012

Intracoronary stenting is an established modality of treatment to relieve narrowing of coronary arteries. Increasing use of stenting is bringing to light new complications. Here we present our experience with a newly emerging indication for surgical intervention for cardiac surgeons. This new indication is complications arising from intracoronary stents. Very little is available in the existing literature to guide the surgeon. We explain our rationale in doing things with two of our cases. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/uhj.v7i1.10213 UHJ 2011; 7(1): 56-58
A Rotated Quasi-Orthogonal Space-Time Block Code for Asynchronous Cooperative Diversity
Authors: Ni Liang-Fang , Yao Fu-Kui , Zhang Li
Published: March 2012

The rotated quasi-orthogonal space-time block code (RQSTBC) for asynchronous cooperative diversity is proposed in this paper. The source selects half of the symbols from a signal constellation set and the other half of them from that constellation rotated with the optimum angle. Meanwhile, it constructs orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) frames to counterbalance time delays of the signals. Then, relays create the frequency domain quasi-orthogonal space-time block transmitted signals matrix in such a way that its items are staggered to take on the Jafarkhani code structure or time-reversion of it. These three stages let the received signals at the destination take on RQSTBC structure with diversity order 4, which results in the fast symbol-pair-wise maximum likelihood (ML) decoder. Simulation results have shown that the proposed scheme outperforms the other asynchronous cooperative diversity schemes considered in this paper.
Antimicrobial, Antiproliferative and Proapoptotic Activities of Extract, Fractions and Isolated Compounds from the Stem of Erythroxylum caatingae Plowman
Authors: Aguiar Jaciana S. , Araújo Rosilma O. , Do Desterro Rodrigues Maria , Sena Kêsia X. F. R. , Batista André M. , Guerra Maria M. P. , Oliveira Steno L. , Tavares Josean F. , Silva Marcelo S. , Nascimento Silene C. , Da Silva Teresinha Gonçalves
Published: March 2012

In the study, we have examined the antitumor and antimicrobial activities of the methanol extract, the fractions, a fraction of total alkaloids and two alkaloids isolated from the stem of Erythroxylum caatingae Plowman. All test fractions, except the hexane fractions, showed antimicrobial activity on gram-positive bacteria and fungi. The acetate: methanol (95:5), acetate, chloroform and hexane fractions show the highest cytotoxicity activity against the NCI-H292, HEp-2 and K562 cell lines using MTT. The absence of hemolysis in the erythrocytes of mice was observed in these fractions and 6β-Benzoyloxy-3α-(3,4,5-trimethoxybenzoyloxy) tropane (catuabine B). Staining with Annexin V-FITC and JC-1 was used to verify the mechanism of action of the compounds of E. caatingae that showed cytotoxicity less than 30 μg/mL in leukemic cells. After 48 h of incubation, we observed that the acetate: methanol (95:5), acetate, and chloroform fractions, as well as the catuabine B, increased in the number of cells in early apoptosis, from 53.0 to 74.8%. An analysis of the potential of the mitochondrial membrane by incorporation of JC-1 showed that most cells during incubation of the acetate: methanol (95:5) and acetate fractions (63.85 and 59.2%) were stained, suggesting the involvement of an intrinsic pathway of apoptosis.
Quercetin-Imprinted Nanospheres as Novel Drug Delivery Devices
Authors: Curcio Manuela , Cirillo Giuseppe , Parisi Ortensia Ilaria , Iemma Francesca , Picci Nevio , Puoci Francesco
Published: March 2012

In this work, molecularly imprinted nanospheres for controlled/sustained release of quercetin were synthesized employing methacrylic acid and ethylene glycoldymethacrylate as functional monomer and crosslinking agent, respectively. One pot precipitation polymerization was chosen as polymerization technique to obtain nanosized materials with spherical shape. Morphological and hydrophilic properties by scanning electron microscopy and water content measurements were determined, and recognition and selectivity properties of the imprinted materials were tested using the template quercetin and its structural analogue, the flavonoid catechin. Finally, the applicability of the obtained materials as drug delivery devices was evaluated by performing in vitro release studies in plasma simulating fluids and cytotoxicity testson HeLa cells.
Fucanomics and Galactanomics: Marine Distribution, Medicinal Impact, Conceptions, and Challenges
Authors: Pomin Vitor H.
Published: March 2012

Glycomics turned out to be a very extensive project where its subdivision is consequently emerging. This is seen by the growing number of terminologies used to define subprojects concerning particular classes of bioactive carbohydrates. Sulfated fucans (SFs) and sulfated galactans (SGs) are relatively new classes of sulfated polysaccharides (SPs) that occur mostly in marine organisms, and exhibit a broad range of medicinal effects. Their structures are taxonomically dependent, and their therapeutic actions include benefits in inflammation, coagulation, thrombosis, angiogenesis, cancer, oxidation, and infections. Some red algae, marine angiosperm and invertebrates express SPs of unique structures composed of regular repeating oligomeric units of well-defined sulfation patterns. This fine pattern of structural regularity is quite rare among any naturally occurring long SPs, and enables accurate structure-biofunction correlations. Seeing that, fucanomics and galactanomics may comprise distinguished glycomics subprojects. We hereby discuss the relevance that justifies the international recognition of these subprojects in the current glycomics age associated with the beneficial outcomes that these glycans may offer in drug development.
A Digitally Controllable Polymer-Based Microfluidic Mixing Module Array
Authors: Lam Raymond H. W. , Li Wen J.
Published: March 2012

This paper presents an integrated digitally controllable microfluidic system for continuous solution supply with a real-time concentration control. This system contains multiple independently operating mixing modules, each integrated with two vortex micropumps, two Tesla valves and a micromixer. The interior surface of the system is made of biocompatible materials using a polymer micro-fabrication process and thus its operation can be applied to chemicals and bio-reagents. In each module, pumping of fluid is achieved by the vortex micropump working with the rotation of a micro-impeller. The downstream fluid mixing is based on mechanical vibrations driven by a lead zirconate titanate ceramic diaphragm actuator located below the mixing chamber. We have conducted experiments to prove that the addition of the micro-pillar structures to the mixing chamber further improves the mixing performance. We also developed a computer-controlled automated driver system to control the real-time fluid mixing and concentration regulation with the mixing module array. This research demonstrates the integration of digitally controllable polymer-based microfluidic modules as a fully functional system, which has great potential in the automation of many bio-fluid handling processes in bio-related applications.
A Reverse Localization Scheme for Underwater Acoustic Sensor Networks
Authors: Moradi Marjan , Rezazadeh Javad , Ismail Abdul Samad
Published: March 2012

Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks (UWSNs) provide new opportunities to observe and predict the behavior of aquatic environments. In some applications like target tracking or disaster prevention, sensed data is meaningless without location information. In this paper, we propose a novel 3D centralized, localization scheme for mobile underwater wireless sensor network, named Reverse Localization Scheme or RLS in short. RLS is an event-driven localization method triggered by detector sensors for launching localization process. RLS is suitable for surveillance applications that require very fast reactions to events and could report the location of the occurrence. In this method, mobile sensor nodes report the event toward the surface anchors as soon as they detect it. They do not require waiting to receive location information from anchors. Simulation results confirm that the proposed scheme improves the energy efficiency and reduces significantly localization response time with a proper level of accuracy in terms of mobility model of water currents. Major contributions of this method lie on reducing the numbers of message exchange for localization, saving the energy and decreasing the average localization response time.
Adaptive Redundant Lifting Wavelet Transform Based on Fitting for Fault Feature Extraction of Roller Bearings
Authors: Yang Zijing , Cai Ligang , Gao Lixin , Wang Huaqing
Published: March 2012

A least square method based on data fitting is proposed to construct a new lifting wavelet, together with the nonlinear idea and redundant algorithm, the adaptive redundant lifting transform based on fitting is firstly stated in this paper. By variable combination selections of basis function, sample number and dimension of basis function, a total of nine wavelets with different characteristics are constructed, which are respectively adopted to perform redundant lifting wavelet transforms on low-frequency approximate signals at each layer. Then the normalized lP norms of the new node-signal obtained through decomposition are calculated to adaptively determine the optimal wavelet for the decomposed approximate signal. Next, the original signal is taken for subsection power spectrum analysis to choose the node-signal for single branch reconstruction and demodulation. Experiment signals and engineering signals are respectively used to verify the above method and the results show that bearing faults can be diagnosed more effectively by the method presented here than by both spectrum analysis and demodulation analysis. Meanwhile, compared with the symmetrical wavelets constructed with Lagrange interpolation algorithm, the asymmetrical wavelets constructed based on data fitting are more suitable in feature extraction of fault signal of roller bearings.
Socioeconomic Assessment of Meat Protein Extracts (MPE) as a New Means of Reducing the U.S. Population’s Salt Intake
Authors: Bordoloi Bedanga , Nørgaard Rikke Winther , Christensen Flemming Mark , Nielsen Per Henning
Published: March 2012

Excessive salt intake causes a number of cardiovascular diseases, such as strokes and hypertension. This is a burden on the individual as well as on society, because these diseases are fatal and costly to treat and live with. Much of the salt comes from processed meat such as sausages, ham, and bacon and has, so far, been hard to avoid because of consumer taste preference as well as the technological benefits. Meat protein extract (MPE) is a broth of hydrolyzed protein which can reduce the salt in processed meat by more than one third without compromising on taste and functionality. This study estimates the socioeconomic impacts of implementing MPE widely across the United States (US) by relating the national salt intake reduction potential of MPE (5%) to a broad range of health, societal, and individual factors derived from the literature. Results show that benefits for society are substantial and MPE could be part of the solution for the problem of excessive salt intake. MPE could deliver 25% of the U.S. ‘National Salt Reduction Initiative’ goals, avoid approximately 1 million hypertension cases and save around USD 1.6 billion in annual direct healthcare costs. Verification indicates that these estimates are conservative.
Leaf epidermal features of Salix species (Salicaceae) and their systematic significance
Authors: Ghahremaninejad Farrokh , Khalili Zohreh , Maassoumi Ali Asghar , Mirzaie‐Nodoushan Hossein , Riahi Mehrshid
Published: March 2012

• Premise of the study: The classification of the genus Salix has historically been intrinsically difficult due to its propensity toward plasticity and high variation in diagnostic morphological characters. We investigated leaf epidermal characteristics, focusing on the stomatal apparatus because it may provide critical insights into the evolution and taxonomy of Salix and its closely related genera.

• Methods: Light microscopy was used to examine the leaf epidermal features in 32 taxa of Salix.

• Key results: Characters such as shape, size, and density of stomatal complexes were very useful in differentiating Salix species. Variation in features of stomatal apparatus in Salix is wider than previously known. Moreover, the type of stomatal complex proved to be very helpful in discriminating Chosenia as members of the genus Salix.

• Conclusions: The results of the present study support the placement of Chosenia within Salix and the combining of subgenera Chamaetia and Vetrix because of similarities in their unique stomatal apparatus.
A Remote and Virtual Lab with Experiments for Secondary Education, Engineering and Lifelong Learning Courses
Authors: Cardoso Alberto , Vieira Miguel , Gil Paulo
Published: March 2012

The Information and Communication Technology tools are nowadays invaluable to support e-learning and b-learning programs. The Remote and Virtual Laboratory in development at the Department of Informatics Engineering of the University of Coimbra (Portugal), RVL@DEI-UC, is a web-based platform that allows users to perform a large set of experiments in different areas and contexts, such as in education or training. This paper aims to describe the inherent potential of this platform in secondary education, engineering and lifelong learning courses. The conceptualization, architecture and implementation of the web platform for real and virtual experiments, which is remotely accessed using the Internet, are presented and the relevance of the labâ??s integration in an intelligent tutoring system is also highlighted, mainly in what regards the requirements of adaptation and customization to different usersâ?? profile in different learning contexts.
Design of a Flexible Hardware Interface for Multiple Remote Electronic practical Experiments of Virtual Laboratory
Authors: Said Farah , Abdelhalim Benachenhou , Guillaume Neveux , Denis Barataud
Published: March 2012

The objective of this work is to present a new design of a Flexible Hardware Interface (FHI) based on PID control techniques to use in a virtual laboratory. This flexible hardware interface allows the easy implementation of different and multiple remote electronic practical experiments for undergraduate engineering classes. This interface can be viewed as opened hardware architecture to easily develop simple or complex remote experiments in the electronic domain. The philosophy of the use of this interface can also be expanded to many other domains as optic experiments for instance. It is also demonstrated that software can be developed to enable remote measurements of electronic circuits or systems using only Web site Interface. Using standard browsers (such as Internet explorer, Firefox, Chrome or Safari), different students can have a remote access to different practical experiments at a time.
Fire Ants in Houston Toad Habitat: Annual Activity and Responses to Canopy Cover and Fire
Authors: Brown Donald J. , DeVolld Bei , Nowlin Weston H. , Forstner Michael R.J.
Published: March 2012

The red imported fire ant Solenopsis invicta (RIFA) is an invasive species found throughout the southern and southeastern United States. Since its introduction, RIFA has been shown to negatively affect a wide range of native vertebrate and invertebrate species. The purposes of this study were to delineate the annual RIFA activity pattern, investigate the association between overstory canopy cover and RIFA captures, and evaluate the effects of low-intensity prescribed fire around pond edges on RIFA in the Lost Pines ecoregion of Texas, a region that provides habitat for most of the remaining endangered Houston toads Bufo houstonensis. We found that annual RIFA activity followed a quadratic curve, with above-average activity between May and October. We found an inverse relationship between mean percentage of canopy cover near pond edges and mean number of RIFA captured. We found that low-intensity prescribed burning had no significant influence on RIFA captures during our study period. However, strong spatial and temporal capture variability was apparent, and thus a strong impact would have been necessary to detect an effect. Although this study provides evidence that should decrease concerns that wildlife managers, conservation biologists, and landowners in the Lost Pines ecoregion may have about exacerbating RIFA abundance when using fire as an ecosystem management tool, we recommend additional work be conducted using a greater sample size, greater sampling effort, and longer study duration. We found that RIFA activity was highest during the time frame in which juvenile Houston toads emerge from ponds. Thus, RIFA control may be a useful Houston toad recovery tool where breeding ponds are not within dense canopy habitats.
On Abstract Intelligence
Authors: Wang Yingxu
Published: March 2012

Abstract intelligence is a human enquiry of both natural and artificial intelligence at the reductive embodying levels of neural, cognitive, functional, and logical from the bottom up. This paper describes the taxonomy and nature of intelligence. It analyzes roles of information in the evolution of human intelligence, and the needs for logical abstraction in modeling the brain and natural intelligence. A formal model of intelligence is developed known as the Generic Abstract Intelligence Mode (GAIM), which provides a foundation to explain the mechanisms of advanced natural intelligence such as thinking, learning, and inferences. A measurement framework of intelligent capability of humans and systems is comparatively studied in the forms of intelligent quotient, intelligent equivalence, and intelligent metrics. On the basis of the GAIM model and the abstract intelligence theories, the compatibility of natural and machine intelligence is revealed in order to investigate into a wide range of paradigms of abstract intelligence such as natural, artificial, machinable intelligence, and their engineering applications.
Hierarchies of Architectures of Collaborative Computational Intelligence
Authors: Pedrycz Witold
Published: March 2012

Computational Intelligence (CI) supports a wealth of methodologies and a plethora of algorithmic developments essential to the construction of intelligent systems. Being faced with inherently distributed data which become evident, the paradigm of CI calls for further enhancements along the line of designing systems that are hierarchical and collaborative in nature. This emerging direction could be referred to as collaborative Computational Intelligence (or C2I for brief). The pervasive phenomenon encountered in architectures of C2I is that collaboration is synonym of knowledge sharing, knowledge reuse and knowledge reconciliation. Knowledge itself comes in different ways: as some structural findings in data and usually formalized in the framework of information granules, locally available models, some action plans, classification schemes, and alike. In such distributed systems sharing data is not feasible given existing technical constraints which are quite often exacerbated by non-technical requirements of privacy or security. In this study, we elaborate on the design of information granules which comes hand in hand with various clustering techniques and fuzzy clustering, in particular.
Challenges in the Design of Adoptive, Intelligent and Cognitive Systems
Authors: Kinsner W.
Published: March 2012

Numerous attempts are being made to develop machines that could act not only autonomously, but also in an increasingly intelligent and cognitive manner. Such cognitive machines ought to be aware of their environments which include not only other machines, but also human beings. Such machines ought to understand the meaning of information in more human-like ways by grounding knowledge in the physical world and in the machines’ own goals. The motivation for developing such machines range from self-evidenced practical reasons such as the expense of computer maintenance, to wearable computing in health care, and gaining a better understanding of the cognitive capabilities of the human brain. To achieve such an ambitious goal requires solutions to many problems, ranging from human perception, attention, concept creation, cognition, consciousness, executive processes guided by emotions and value, and symbiotic conversational human-machine interactions. This paper discusses some of the challenges emerging from this new design paradigm, including systemic problems, design issues, teaching the subjects to undergraduate students in electrical and computer engineering programs, research related to design.
On Cognitive Computing
Authors: Wang Yingxu
Published: March 2012

Inspired by the latest development in cognitive informatics and contemporary denotational mathematics, cognitive computing is an emerging paradigm of intelligent computing methodologies and systems, which implements computational intelligence by autonomous inferences and perceptions mimicking the mechanisms of the brain. This article presents a survey on the theoretical framework and architectural techniques of cognitive computing beyond conventional imperative and autonomic computing technologies. Theoretical foundations of cognitive computing are elaborated from the aspects of cognitive informatics, neural informatics, and denotational mathematics. Conceptual models of cognitive computing are explored on the basis of the latest advances in abstract intelligence and computational intelligence. Applications of cognitive computing are described from the aspects of autonomous agent systems and cognitive search engines, which demonstrate how machine and computational intelligence may be generated and implemented by cognitive computing theories and technologies toward autonomous knowledge processing.
Semantic Matching, Propagation and Transformation for Composition in Component-Based Systems
Authors: Bouillet Eric , Feblowitz Mark , Liu Zhen , Ranganathan Anand , Riabov Anton
Published: March 2012

Composition of software applications from component parts in response to high-level goals is a long-standing and highly challenging goal. We target the problem of composition in flow-based information processing systems and demonstrate how application composition and component development can be facilitated by the use of semantically described application metadata. The semantic metadata describe both the data flowing through each application and the processing performed in the associated application code. In this paper, we explore some of the key features of the semantic model, including the matching of outputs to input requirements, and the transformation and the propagation of semantic properties by components.
On the Cognitive Complexity of Software and its Quantification and Formal Measurement
Authors: Wang Yingxu
Published: March 2012

The quantification and measurement of functional complexity of software are a persistent problem in software engineering. Measurement models of software complexities have been studied in two facets in computing and software engineering, where the former is machine-oriented in the small; while the latter is human-oriented in the large. The cognitive complexity of software presented in this paper is a new measurement for cross-platform analysis of complexities, functional sizes, and cognition efforts of software code and specifications in the phases of design, implementation, and maintenance in software engineering. This paper reveals that the cognitive complexity of software is a product of its architectural and operational complexities on the basis of deductive semantics. A set of ten Basic Control Structures (BCS’s) are elicited from software architectural and behavioral modeling and specifications. The cognitive weights of the BCS’s are derived and calibrated via a series of psychological experiments. Based on this work, the cognitive complexity of software systems can be rigorously and accurately measured and analyzed. Comparative case studies demonstrate that the cognitive complexity is highly distinguishable for software functional complexity and size measurement in software engineering.
The Formal Design Model of a Lift Dispatching System (LDS)
Authors: Wang Yingxu , Ngolah Cyprian F. , Ahmadi Hadi , Sheu Philip , Ying Shi
Published: March 2012

A Lift Dispatching System (LDS) is a typical real-time system that is highly complicated in design and implementation. This article presents the formal design, specification, and modeling of the LDS system using a denotational mathematics known as Real-Time Process Algebra (RTPA). The conceptual model of the LDS system is introduced as the initial requirements for the system. The architectural model of the LDS system is created using RTPA architectural modeling methodologies and refined by a set of Unified Data Models (UDMs). The static behaviors of the LDS system are specified and refined by a set of Unified Process Models (UPMs) for the lift dispatching and serving processes. The dynamic behaviors of the LDS system are specified and refined by process priority allocation and process deployment models. Based on the formal design models of the LDS system, code can be automatically generated using the RTPA Code Generator (RTPA-CG), or be seamlessly transferred into programs by programmers. The formal models of LDS may not only serve as a formal design paradigm of real-time software systems, but also a test bench of the expressive power and modeling capability of exiting formal methods in software engineering.
Requirements Elicitation by Defect Elimination
Authors: Mahalakshmi G. S. , Geetha T. V.
Published: March 2012

This paper aims to develop an Indian-logic based approach for automatic generation of software requirements from a domain-specific ontology. The structure of domain ontology is adapted from Indian logic. The interactive approach proposed in this paper parses the problem statement, and the section of domain ontology, which matches the problem statement, is identified. The software generates questions to stakeholders based on the identified concepts. The answer is analysed for presence of flaws or inconsistencies. Subsequent questions are recursively generated to repair the flaw in the previous answer. These answers are populated into requirements ontology, which contains problem specific information coupled with the interests of the stakeholder. The information gathered is stored in a database, which is later segregated into functional and non-functional requirements. These requirements are classified, validated and prioritized based on combined approach of AHP and stakeholders’defined priority. Conflict between requirements is resolved by the application of cosine correlation measure.
Application of Artificial Neural Computation in Topex Waveform Data
Authors: Zhang Bo , Schwartz Franklin W. , Tong Daoqin
Published: March 2012

Using the TOPEX radar altimeter for land cover studies has been of great interest due to the TOPEX near global coverage and its consistent availability of waveform data for about one and a half decades from 1992 to 2005. However, the complexity of the TOPEX Sensor Data Records (SDRs) makes the recognition of the radar echoes particularly difficult. In this article, artificial neural computation as one of the most powerful algorithms in pattern recognition is investigated for water ratio assessment over Lake of the Woods area using TOPEX reflected radar signals. Results demonstrate that neural networks have the capability in identifying water proportion from the TOPEX radar information, controlling the predicted errors in a reasonable range.
A Generic Framework for Feature Representations in Image Categorization Tasks
Authors: Csapo Adam , Resko Barna , Lind Morten , Baranyi Peter , Tikk Domonkos
Published: March 2012

The computerized modeling of cognitive visual information has been a research field of great interest in the past several decades. The research field is interesting not only from a biological perspective, but also from an engineering point of view when systems are developed that aim to achieve similar goals as biological cognitive systems. This paper introduces a general framework for the extraction and systematic storage of low-level visual features. The applicability of the framework is investigated in both unstructured and highly structured environments. In a first experiment, a linear categorization algorithm originally developed for the classification of text documents is used to classify natural images taken from the Caltech 101 database. In a second experiment, the framework is used to provide an automatically guided vehicle with obstacle detection and auto-positioning functionalities in highly structured environments. Results demonstrate that the model is highly applicable in structured environments, and also shows promising results in certain cases when used in unstructured environments.
A Formal Approach to Evaluating Medical Ontology Systems using Naturalness
Authors: An Yoo Jung , Huang Kuo-Chuan , Chun Soon Ae , Geller James
Published: March 2012

Ontologies, terminologies and vocabularies are popular repositories for collecting the terms used in a domain. It may be expected that in the future more such ontologies will be created for domain experts. However, there is increasing interest in making the language of experts understandable to casual users. For example, cancer patients often research their cases on the Web. The authors consider the problem of objectively evaluating the quality of ontologies (QoO). This article formalizes the notion of naturalness as a component of QoO and quantitatively measures naturalness for well-known ontologies (UMLS, WordNet, OpenCyc) based on their concepts, IS-A relationships and semantic relationships. To compute numeric values characterizing the naturalness of an ontology, this article defines appropriate metrics. As absolute numbers in such a pursuit are often meaningless, we concentrate on using relative naturalness metrics. That allows us to say that a certain ontology is relatively more natural than another one.
Modeling a Classification Scheme of Epileptic Seizures Using Ontology Web Language
Authors: Ghosh Bhaswati , Ghosh Partha S. , Sikder Iftikhar U.
Published: March 2012

Ontology-based disease classification offers a way to rigorously assign disease types and to reuse diagnostic knowledge. However, ontology itself is not sufficient for fully representing the complex knowledge needed in classification schemes which are continuously evolving. This article describes the application of SWRL/OWL-DL to the representation of knowledge intended for proper classification of a complex neurological condition, namely epilepsy. The authors present a rigorous and expandable approach to the ontological classification of epileptic seizures based on the 1981ILAE classification. It provides a classification knowledge base that can be extended with rules that describe constraints in SWRL. Moreover, by transforming an OWL classification scheme into JESS (rule engine in Java platform) facts and by transforming SWRL constraints into JESS, logical inferences and reasoning provide a mechanism to discover new knowledge and facts. The logic representation of epileptic classification amounts to greater community understanding among practitioners, knowledge reuse and interoperability.
Exploring Type-and-Identity-Based Proxy Re-Encryption Scheme to Securely Manage Personal Health Records
Authors: Ibraimi Luan , Tang Qiang , Hartel Pieter , Jonker Willem
Published: March 2012

Commercial Web-based Personal-Health Record (PHR) systems can help patients to share their personal health records (PHRs) anytime from anywhere. PHRs are very sensitive data and an inappropriate disclosure may cause serious problems to an individual. Therefore commercial Web-based PHR systems have to ensure that the patient health data is secured using state-of-the-art mechanisms. In current commercial PHR systems, even though patients have the power to define the access control policy on who can access their data, patients have to trust entirely the access-control manager of the commercial PHR system to properly enforce these policies. Therefore patients hesitate to upload their health data to these systems as the data is processed unencrypted on untrusted platforms. Recent proposals on enforcing access control policies exploit the use of encryption techniques to enforce access control policies. In such systems, information is stored in an encrypted form by the third party and there is no need for an access control manager. This implies that data remains confidential even if the database maintained by the third party is compromised. In this paper we propose a new encryption technique called a type-and-identity-based proxy re-encryption scheme which is suitable to be used in the healthcare setting. The proposed scheme allows users (patients) to securely store their PHRs on commercial Web-based PHRs, and securely share their PHRs with other users (doctors).
Computer Aided Detection and Recognition of Lesions in Ultrasound Breast Images
Authors: Yap Moi Hoon , Edirisinghe Eran , Bez Helmut
Published: March 2012

The authors extend their previous work on Ultrasound (US) image lesion detection and segmentation, to classification, proposing a complete end-to-end solution for automatic Ultrasound Computer Aided Detection (US CAD). Carried out is a comprehensive analysis to determine the best classifier-feature set combination that works optimally in US imaging. In particular the use of nineteen features categorised into three groups (shape, texture and edge), ten classifiers and 22 feature selection approaches are used in the analysis. From the overall performance, the classifier RBFNetworks defined by the WEKA pattern recognition tool set, with a feature set comprising of the area to perimeter ratio, solidity, elongation, roundness, standard deviation, two Fourier related and a fractal related texture measures out-performed other combinations of feature-classifiers, with an achievement of predicted Az value of 0.948. Next analyzed is the use of a number of different metrics in performance analysis and provide an insight to future improvements and extension.
Privacy Preserving Clustering for Distributed Homogeneous Gene Expression Data Sets
Authors: Li Xin
Published: March 2012

In this paper, the authors present a new approach to perform principal component analysis (PCA)-based gene clustering on genomic data distributed in multiple sites (horizontal partitions) with privacy protection. This approach allows data providers to collaborate together to identify gene profiles from a global viewpoint, and at the same time, protect the sensitive genomic data from possible privacy leaks. The authors developed a framework for privacy preserving PCA-based gene clustering, which includes two types of participants such as data providers and a trusted central site. Within this mechanism, distributed horizontal partitions of genomic data can be globally clustered with privacy preservation. Compared to results from centralized scenarios, the result generated from distributed partitions achieves 100% accuracy by using this approach. An experiment on a real genomic data set is conducted, and result shows that the proposed framework produces exactly the same cluster formation as that from the centralized data set.
Upper GI Bleed, Etiology, Role of Endoscopy in Rural Population of Punjab
Authors: Malhotra Ravinder Singh , Ded K. S. , Gupta Arun , Bansal Darpan , Singh Harneet
Published: March 2012

Haematemesis and malena are the two most important symptoms of upper gastrointestinal bleeding . The most common cause of upper gastrointestinal bleeding is due to a peptic ulcer. In this paper, the authors research the cause of bleeding. Contrary to previous studies, results favor esophageal varices, e.g., alcoholism or cirrhosis liver post necrotic, as the most common cause of bleeding rather than a peptic ulcer. The authors’ study is based on an observational retrospective protocol with records of 50 consecutive patients with GI bleeding, attending the emergency room from February 2007 until September 2009. Results show that the treatment of UGI bleeding has made important progress since the introduction of emergency endoscopy and endoscopic techniques for haemostasis. The application of specific protocols significantly decreases rebleeding and the need for surgery, whereas mortality is still high. The data highlight the decreasing trend of peptic ulcer as the sole cause of bleeding, as shown in previous literature, ascertaining that varices are now the most common variable.