bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Position based fluids
Authors: Macklin Miles , Müller Matthias
Published: July 2013

In fluid simulation, enforcing incompressibility is crucial for realism; it is also computationally expensive. Recent work has improved efficiency, but still requires time-steps that are impractical for real-time applications. In this work we present an iterative density solver integrated into the Position Based Dynamics framework (PBD). By formulating and solving a set of positional constraints that enforce constant density, our method allows similar incompressibility and convergence to modern smoothed particle hydro-dynamic (SPH) solvers, but inherits the stability of the geometric, position based dynamics method, allowing large time steps suitable for real-time applications. We incorporate an artificial pressure term that improves particle distribution, creates surface tension, and lowers the neighborhood requirements of traditional SPH. Finally, we address the issue of energy loss by applying vorticity confinement as a velocity post process.
Bi-scale appearance fabrication
Authors: Lan Yanxiang , Dong Yue , Pellacini Fabio , Tong Xin
Published: July 2013

Surfaces in the real world exhibit complex appearance due to spatial variations in both their reflectance and local shading frames (i.e. the local coordinate system defined by the normal and tangent direction). For opaque surfaces, existing fabrication solutions can reproduce well only the spatial variations of isotropic reflectance. In this paper, we present a system for fabricating surfaces with desired spatially-varying reflectance, including anisotropic ones, and local shading frames. We approximate each input reflectance, rotated by its local frame, as a small patch of oriented facets coated with isotropic glossy inks. By assigning different ink combinations to facets with different orientations, this bi-scale material can reproduce a wider variety of reflectance than the printer gamut, including anisotropic materials. By orienting the facets appropriately, we control the local shading frame. We propose an algorithm to automatically determine the optimal facets orientations and ink combinations that best approximate a given input appearance, while obeying manufacturing constraints on both geometry and ink gamut. We fabricate the resulting surface with commercially available hardware, a 3D printer to fabricate the facets and a flatbed UV printer to coat them with inks. We validate our method by fabricating a variety of isotropic and anisotropic materials with rich variations in normals and tangents.
Dynamic hair manipulation in images and videos
Authors: Chai Menglei , Wang Lvdi , Weng Yanlin , Jin Xiaogang , Zhou Kun
Published: July 2013

This paper presents a single-view hair modeling technique for generating visually and physically plausible 3D hair models with modest user interaction. By solving an unambiguous 3D vector field explicitly from the image and adopting an iterative hair generation algorithm, we can create hair models that not only visually match the original input very well but also possess
physical plausibility
(e.g., having strand roots fixed on the scalp and preserving the length and continuity of real strands in the image as much as possible). The latter property enables us to manipulate hair in many new ways that were previously very difficult with a single image, such as dynamic simulation or interactive hair shape editing. We further extend the modeling approach to handle simple video input, and generate
dynamic
3D hair models. This allows users to manipulate hair in a video or transfer styles from images to videos.
RealBrush
Authors: Lu Jingwan , Barnes Connelly , DiVerdi Stephen , Finkelstein Adam
Published: July 2013

Conventional digital painting systems rely on procedural rules and physical simulation to render paint strokes. We present an interactive, data-driven painting system that uses scanned images of real natural media to synthesize both new strokes and complex stroke interactions, obviating the need for physical simulation. First, users capture images of real media, including examples of isolated strokes, pairs of overlapping strokes, and smudged strokes. Online, the user inputs a new stroke path, and our system synthesizes its 2D texture appearance with optional smearing or smudging when strokes overlap. We demonstrate high-fidelity paintings that closely resemble the captured media style, and also quantitatively evaluate our synthesis quality via user studies.
OpenSurfaces
Authors: Bell Sean , Upchurch Paul , Snavely Noah , Bala Kavita
Published: July 2013

The appearance of surfaces in real-world scenes is determined by the materials, textures, and context in which the surfaces appear. However, the datasets we have for visualizing and modeling rich surface appearance in context, in applications such as home remodeling, are quite limited. To help address this need, we present OpenSurfaces, a rich, labeled database consisting of thousands of examples of surfaces segmented from consumer photographs of interiors, and annotated with material parameters (reflectance, material names), texture information (surface normals, rectified textures), and contextual information (scene category, and object names).

Retrieving usable surface information from uncalibrated Internet photo collections is challenging. We use human annotations and present a new methodology for segmenting and annotating materials in Internet photo collections suitable for crowdsourcing (e.g., through Amazon's Mechanical Turk). Because of the noise and variability inherent in Internet photos and novice annotators, designing this annotation engine was a key challenge; we present a multi-stage set of annotation tasks with quality checks and validation. We demonstrate the use of this database in proof-of-concept applications including surface retexturing and material and image browsing, and discuss future uses. OpenSurfaces is a public resource available at http://opensurfaces.cs.cornell.edu/.
Interpreting concept sketches
Authors: Shao Tianjia , Li Wilmot , Zhou Kun , Xu Weiwei , Guo Baining , Mitra Niloy J.
Published: July 2013

Concept sketches are popularly used by designers to convey pose and function of products. Understanding such sketches, however, requires special skills to form a mental 3D representation of the product geometry by linking parts across the different sketches and imagining the intermediate object configurations. Hence, the sketches can remain inaccessible to many, especially non-designers. We present a system to facilitate easy interpretation and exploration of concept sketches. Starting from crudely specified incomplete geometry, often inconsistent across the different views, we propose a globally-coupled analysis to extract part correspondence and inter-part junction information that best explain the different sketch views. The user can then interactively explore the abstracted object to gain better understanding of the product functions. Our key technical contribution is performing shape analysis without access to any coherent 3D geometric model by reasoning in the space of inter-part relations. We evaluate our system on various concept sketches obtained from popular product design books and websites.
Globally optimal direction fields
Authors: Knöppel Felix , Crane Keenan , Pinkall Ulrich , Schröder Peter
Published: July 2013

We present a method for constructing smooth
n
-direction fields (line fields, cross fields,
etc
.) on surfaces that is an order of magnitude faster than state-of-the-art methods, while still producing fields of equal or better quality. Fields produced by the method are globally optimal in the sense that they minimize a simple, well-defined quadratic smoothness energy over all possible configurations of singularities (number, location, and index). The method is fully automatic and can optionally produce fields aligned with a given guidance field such as principal curvature directions. Computationally the smoothest field is found via a sparse eigenvalue problem involving a matrix similar to the cotan-Laplacian. When a guidance field is present, finding the optimal field amounts to solving a single linear system.
Global illumination with radiance regression functions
Authors: Ren Peiran , Wang Jiaping , Gong Minmin , Lin Stephen , Tong Xin , Guo Baining
Published: July 2013

We present radiance regression functions for fast rendering of global illumination in scenes with dynamic local light sources. A radiance regression function (RRF) represents a non-linear mapping from local and contextual attributes of surface points, such as position, viewing direction, and lighting condition, to their indirect illumination values. The RRF is obtained from precomputed shading samples through regression analysis, which determines a function that best fits the shading data. For a given scene, the shading samples are precomputed by an offline renderer.

The key idea behind our approach is to exploit the nonlinear coherence of the indirect illumination data to make the RRF both compact and fast to evaluate. We model the RRF as a multilayer acyclic feed-forward neural network, which provides a close functional approximation of the indirect illumination and can be efficiently evaluated at run time. To effectively model scenes with spatially variant material properties, we utilize an augmented set of attributes as input to the neural network RRF to reduce the amount of inference that the network needs to perform. To handle scenes with greater geometric complexity, we partition the input space of the RRF model and represent the subspaces with separate, smaller RRFs that can be evaluated more rapidly. As a result, the RRF model scales well to increasingly complex scene geometry and material variation. Because of its compactness and ease of evaluation, the RRF model enables real-time rendering with full global illumination effects, including changing caustics and multiple-bounce high-frequency glossy interreflections.
Content-adaptive lenticular prints
Authors: Tompkin James , Heinzle Simon , Kautz Jan , Matusik Wojciech
Published: July 2013

Lenticular prints are a popular medium for producing automultiscopic glasses-free 3D images. The light field emitted by such prints has a fixed spatial and angular resolution. We increase both perceived angular and spatial resolution by modifying the lenslet array to better match the content of a given light field. Our optimization algorithm analyzes the input light field and computes an optimal lenslet size, shape, and arrangement that best matches the input light field given a set of output parameters. The resulting emitted light field shows higher detail and smoother motion parallax compared to fixed-size lens arrays. We demonstrate our technique using rendered simulations and by 3D printing lens arrays, and we validate our approach in simulation with a user study.
A
4
Authors: Barringer Rasmus , Akenine-Möller Tomas
Published: July 2013

Edge aliasing continues to be one of the most prominent problems in real-time graphics, e.g., in games. We present a novel algorithm that uses shared memory between the GPU and the CPU so that these two units can work in concert to solve the edge aliasing problem rapidly. Our system renders the scene as usual on the GPU with one sample per pixel. At the same time, our novel edge aliasing algorithm is executed asynchronously on the CPU. First, a sparse set of
important
pixels is created. This set may include pixels with geometric silhouette edges, discontinuities in the frame buffer, and pixels/polygons under user-guided artistic control. After that, the CPU runs our sparse rasterizer and fragment shader, which is parallel and SIMD:ified, and directly accesses shared resources (e.g., render targets created by the GPU). Our system can render a scene with shadow mapping with adaptive anti-aliasing with 16 samples per
important
pixel faster than the GPU with 8 samples per pixel using multi-sampling anti-aliasing. Since our system consists of an extensive code base, it will be released to the public for exploration and usage.
Embedded thin shells for wrinkle simulation
Authors: Rémillard Olivier , Kry Paul G.
Published: July 2013

We present a new technique for simulating high resolution surface wrinkling deformations of composite objects consisting of a soft interior and a harder skin. We combine high resolution thin shells with coarse finite element lattices and define frequency based constraints that allow the formation of wrinkles with properties matching those predicted by the physical parameters of the composite object. Our two-way coupled model produces the expected wrinkling behavior without the computational expense of a large number of volumetric elements to model deformations under the surface. We use
C
1
quadratic shape functions for the interior deformations, allowing very coarse resolutions to model the overall global deformation efficiently, while avoiding visual artifacts of wrinkling at discretization boundaries. We demonstrate that our model produces wrinkle wavelengths that match both theoretical predictions and high resolution volumetric simulations. We also show example applications in simulating wrinkles on passive objects, such as furniture, and for wrinkles on faces in character animation.
Line segment sampling with blue-noise properties
Authors: Sun Xin , Zhou Kun , Guo Jie , Xie Guofu , Pan Jingui , Wang Wencheng , Guo Baining
Published: July 2013

Line segment sampling has recently been adopted in many rendering algorithms for better handling of a wide range of effects such as motion blur, defocus blur and scattering media. A question naturally raised is how to generate line segment samples with good properties that can effectively reduce variance and aliasing artifacts observed in the rendering results. This paper studies this problem and presents a frequency analysis of line segment sampling. The analysis shows that the frequency content of a line segment sample is equivalent to the weighted frequency content of a point sample. The weight introduces anisotropy that smoothly changes among point samples, line segment samples and line samples according to the lengths of the samples. Line segment sampling thus makes it possible to achieve a balance between noise (point sampling) and aliasing (line sampling) under the same sampling rate. Based on the analysis, we propose a line segment sampling scheme to preserve blue-noise properties of samples which can significantly reduce noise and aliasing artifacts in reconstruction results. We demonstrate that our sampling scheme improves the quality of depth-of-field rendering, motion blur rendering, and temporal light field reconstruction.
Performance-Led Research in the Wild
Authors: Benford Steve , Greenhalgh Chris , Crabtree Andy , Flintham Martin , Walker Brendan , Marshall Joe , Koleva Boriana , Rennick Egglestone Stefan , Giannachi Gabriella , Adams Matt , Tandavanitj Nick , Row Farr Ju
Published: July 2013

We explore the approach of performance-led research in the wild in which artists drive the creation of novel performances with the support of HCI researchers that are then deployed and studied at public performance in cultural settings such as galleries, festivals and on the city streets. We motivate the approach and then describe how it consists of three distinct activities -- practice, studies and theory -- that are interleaved in complex ways through nine different relationships. We present a historical account of how the approach has evolved over a fifteen-year period, charting the evolution of a complex web of projects, papers, and relationships between them. We articulate the challenges of pursuing each activity as well as overarching challenges of balancing artistic and research interests, flexible management of relationships, and finally ethics.
P-LAYERS -- A Layered Framework Addressing the Multifaceted Issues Facing Community-Supporting Public Display Deployments
Authors: Memarovic Nemanja , Langheinrich Marc , Cheverst Keith , Taylor Nick , Alt Florian
Published: July 2013

The proliferation of digital signage systems has prompted a wealth of research that attempts to use public displays for more than just advertisement or transport schedules, such as their use for supporting communities. However, deploying and maintaining display systems “in the wild” that can support communities is challenging. Based on the authors’ experiences in designing and fielding a diverse range of community-supporting public display deployments, we identify a large set of challenges and issues that researchers working in this area are likely to encounter. Grouping them into five distinct layers -- (1) hardware, (2) system architecture, (3) content, (4) system interaction, and (5) community interaction design -- we draw up the P-LAYERS framework to enable a more systematic appreciation of the diverse range of issues associated with the development, the deployment, and the maintenance of such systems. Using three of our own deployments as illustrative examples, we will describe both our experiences within each individual layer, as well as point out interactions between the layers. We believe our framework provides a valuable aid for researchers looking to work in this space, alerting them to the issues they are likely to encounter during their deployments, and help them plan accordingly.
On the relationship between use cases and test suites size
Authors: Badri Mourad , Badri Linda , Flageol William
Published: July 2013

Software testing, which plays a crucial role in software quality assurance, is a time and resource consuming process. It is, therefore, necessary to estimate as soon as possible the effort required to test software, so that activities can be planned and resources can be optimally allocated. Unfortunately, little is known about the prediction of the testing effort. In this paper, we address the testing effort from the perspective of test suites size. The study presented aims at exploring empirically the relationships between use cases and the size of test suites in object-oriented systems. We introduce four metrics to characterize the size and complexity of use cases. The size of test suites is measured in terms of lines of test code. We performed an experimental study using data collected from five cases studies. Results provide evidence that there is a significant relationship between use case metrics and the size of test suites.
A novel approach for slicing of object oriented programs
Authors: Jain Paritosh , Garg Nitish
Published: July 2013

This paper extends the graph-less technique proposed by Beszedes for slicing Object Oriented Programs. The proposed approach computes the dynamic slices of the OOPs, especially, in case of polymorphism. The approach generates the defined-used (d-u) chains of the objects and variables used in the program and computes the slice using the generated d-u chains; it then debugs the program by detecting the various possible bugs and generates messages suggesting that a bug may be present. A GUI tool has been developed to compute and display the computed slices. The tool allows the user to browse the program and see the generated advice.
Function points as a universal software metric
Authors: Jones Capers
Published: July 2013

Function point metrics are the most accurate and effective metrics yet developed for software sizing and also for studying software productivity, quality, costs, risks, and economic value. Unlike the older "lines of code" metric function points can be used to study requirements, design, and in fact all software activities from development through maintenance. In the future function point metrics can easily become a universal metric used for all software applications and for all software contracts in all countries. The government of Brazil already requires function points for all software contracts, and South Korea and Italy may soon follow. However, there are some logistical problems with function point metrics that need to be understood and overcome in order for function point metrics to become the primary metric for software economic analysis. Manual function point counting is too slow and costly to be used on large software projects above 10,000 function points in size. Also, application size is not constant but grows at about 2% per calendar month during development and 8% or more per calendar year for as long as software is in active use. This paper discusses a method of high-speed function point counting that can size any application in less than two minutes, and which can predict application growth during development and for five years after release. This new method is based on pattern matching and is covered by U.S. utility patent application and hence is patent pending.
A critical review of various testing techniques in aspect-oriented software systems
Authors: Singhal Abhishek , Bansal Abhay , Kumar Avadhesh
Published: July 2013

Software testing is a very crucial phase of the software development life cycle. In order to develop quality software using any approach such as module-oriented, object-oriented, aspect-oriented and componentbased, testing plays a crucial role. Aspect-Oriented Programming (AOP) is a relatively new software development approach and testing of software developed using this approach has not matured enough. Researchers have proposed various testing techniques for AOP. It is important to analyze existing Aspect-Oriented testing techniques in order to develop new, better, more efficient techniques. This paper presents a critical review of various existing testing techniques for AOP.
Enabling ad-hoc-style communication in public WLAN hot-spots
Authors: Kärkkäinen Teemu , Pitkänen Mikko , Ott Jörg
Published: July 2013

Opportunistic networking between mobile devices relies on the capabilities of those devices to establish ad-hoc communication among each other. While the two dominant wireless interface technologies, IEEE 802.11 wireless LAN and Bluetooth, offer such capabilities in theory, limitations of the protocol specification, chipsets, and operating systems in mobile devices render those features largely unusable in practice. Researchers have recognized these shortcomings and devised mechanisms in which mobile devices act as WLAN access points to simulate WLAN infrastructure-based operation. In this paper, we complement these approaches by instrumenting commercial WLAN APs that do not employ L2 security to serve as link layer packet relays without requiring the mobile nodes to authenticate with the WLAN hot-spot. We present different mechanisms for peer discovery, evaluate their feasibility for a set of commercial hot-spots, and discuss operational considerations for fair use of commercial access points.
Improving incremental signature-based Gröbner basis algorithms
Authors: Eder Christian
Published: July 2013

In this paper we describe a combination of ideas to improve incremental signature-based Gröbner basis algorithms which have a big impact on their performance. Besides explaining how to combine already known optimizations to achieve more efficient algorithms, we show how to improve them even further. Although our idea has a postive effect on all kinds of incremental signature-based algorithms, the way this impact is achieved can be quite different. Based on the two best-known algorithms in this area, F5 and G2V, we explain our idea, both from a theoretical and a practical point of view.
GNU TEXmacs
Authors: van der Hoeven Joris , Grozin Andrey , Gubinelli Massimiliano , Lecerf Grégoire , Poulain François , Raux Denis
Published: July 2013

GNU TEXmacs is a free software for editing scientific documents, which can also be used as an interface for computer algebra systems. In this software demonstration we will briefly recall its main features and present some recent developments.
Different Effects of Six Antibiotics and Ten Traditional Chinese Medicines on Shiga Toxin Expression byEscherichia coliO157:H7
Authors: Chen Mei Ling , Hao Zhao , Tian Yuan , Zhang Qi Yao , Gao Pei Ji , Jin Jian Ling
Published: July 2013

This study compared the effects of ten types of traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) and six different antibiotics onE. coliO157:H7 Shiga toxin gene (stx2) mRNA expression level based on real-time PCR and the expression level of Stx toxin using an ELISA quantitative assay. We also compared their effects on the induction of the SOS response. The results clearly indicated that all ten TCMs had negative results in the SOS response induction test, while most TCMs did not increase the levels ofstx2mRNA and the Stx toxin. Some TCMs did increase the mRNA levels of thestx2gene and the Stx toxin level, but their increases were much lower than those caused by antibiotics. With the exception of cefotaxime, the six antibiotics increased the Stx toxin level and increased thestx2gene mRNA level. With the exceptions of cefotaxime and tetracycline, the antibiotics increased the SOS induction response. These results suggest that TCMs may have advantages compared with antibiotics, when treatingE. coliO157:H7; TCMs did not greatly increase Stx toxin production and release.
Bentonite/Iron Oxide Composites: Preparation and Characterization by Hyperfine Methods
Authors: Křišťan Petr , Chlan Vojtěch , Štěpánková Helena , Řezníček Richard , Kouřil Karel , Štěpánek Josef , Poláková Kateřina , Procházka Vít , Čuda Jan , Medřík Ivo
Published: July 2013

Bentonite/iron oxide system is prepared by isothermal calcination of powder composed of bentonite clay and precursor containing ferric acetate. This preparation technique enables one to get the composite material directly, that is, iron oxide particles embedded in a bentonite matrix. Calcination temperature Tcalc is varied from 320°C to 700°C. The resulting series of samples is characterized by local methods based on hyperfine interactions: 57Fe nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and the Mössbauer spectroscopy. The results show that the phase composition changes significantly in dependence on calcination temperature. The amount of maghemite phase rapidly increases up to Tcalc = 420°C and decreases abruptly for Tcalc higher than 460°C.
A Novel Method for Analytical Solutions of Fractional Partial Differential Equations
Authors: Akinlar Mehmet Ali , Kurulay Muhammet
Published: July 2013

A new solution technique for analytical solutions of fractional partial differential equations (FPDEs) is presented. The solutions are expressed as a finite sum of a vector type functional. By employing MAPLE software, it is shown that the solutions might be extended to an arbitrary degree which makes the present method not only different from the others in the literature but also quite efficient. The method is applied to special Bagley-Torvik and Diethelm fractional differential equations as well as a more general fractional differential equation.
Physicochemical Properties and Surface Charge Characteristics of Arid Soils in Southeastern Iran
Authors: Moghimi A. H. , Hamdan J. , Shamshuddin J. , Samsuri A. W. , Abtahi A.
Published: July 2013

The majority of previous studies on surface charge characteristics were done on tropical and subtropical soils. Information of such studies in the arid regions is limited. A study was conducted to investigate the relation between soil chemical and mineralogical properties and surface charge characteristics of an arid region in Southeastern Iran. Eight soil pedons, representing the alluvial and the colluvial deposits, were described, and their mineralogical and physicochemical properties were examined. The common clay minerals in the studied area are smectite, palygorskite, kaolinite, chlorite, and illite. The point of zero charge (pH0) values are low (2.85–3.35) in all soils mostly affected by organic carbon (OC) and free iron oxide (Fed).pH0has a significant negative correlation with pH under field conditions (r=−0.45∗,P<0.05). The point of zero net charge (PZNC) levels for all the soils were <2, due to the excess negative charge in these soils. The estimated PZNC values were less thanpH0in all soils because of the high permanent negative charge in these soils. The permanent negative charge (σp) of the soils studied is high and it has a significant positive correlation with pH, CEC, Na, Mg, SAR, clay content, palygorskite, OC, andFed.
Microbial Biofilms and Breast Tissue Expanders
Authors: Karau Melissa J. , Greenwood-Quaintance Kerryl E. , Schmidt Suzannah M. , Tran Nho V. , Convery Phyllis A. , Jacobson Steven R. , Bite Uldis , Clay Ricky P. , Petty Paul M. , Johnson Craig H. , Mandrekar Jayawant , Patel Robin
Published: July 2013

We previously developed and validated a vortexing-sonication technique for detection of biofilm bacteria on the surface of explanted prosthetic joints. Herein, we evaluated this technique for diagnosis of infected breast tissue expanders and used it to assess colonization of breast tissue expanders. From April 2008 to December 2011, we studied 328 breast tissue expanders at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA. Of seven clinically infected breast tissue expanders, six (85.7%) had positive cultures, one of which grewPropionibacteriumspecies. Fifty-two of 321 breast tissue expanders (16.2%, 95% CI, 12.3–20.7%) without clinical evidence of infection also had positive cultures, 45 growingPropionibacteriumspecies and ten coagulase-negative staphylococci. While vortexing-sonication can detect clinically infected breast tissue expanders, 16 percent of breast tissue expanders appear to be asymptomatically colonized with normal skin flora, most commonly,Propionibacteriumspecies.
A Case of Concomitant Perforated Acute Cholecystitis and Pancreatitis
Authors: Perera Marlon , Pham Toan , Toshniwal Sumeet , Lennie Yasmin , Chan Steven , Houli Nezor
Published: July 2013

Introduction. Concomitant cholecystitis and gallstone pancreatitis is an infrequent clinical encounter, reported sparsely in the literature. Concurrent acute cholecystitis and pancreatitis complicated by gall bladder perforation has not been reported before.Presentation of Case. We report a 39-year-old female presenting with concomitant cholecystitis and acute pancreatitis, complicated by gallbladder perforation.Discussion. There is much controversy surrounding the timing of cholecystectomy following gallstone pancreatitis, with the recent literature suggesting that “early” operation is safe. In the current case, gallbladder perforation altered the “routine” management of gallstone pancreatitis and posed as a management dilemma.Conclusion. Clinical judgement dictated timing of operative management and ultimately cholecystectomy was performed safely.
New Travelling-Wave Solutions for Dodd-Bullough Equation
Authors: Shen Guicheng , Sun Yunchuan , Xiong Yongping
Published: July 2013

A new method, which assumesϕ'with a function form off(eϕ), is applied to solve the Dodd-Bullough equationϕuv=eϕ-e-2ϕthrough travelling-wave transformation. A new family of explicit travelling wave solutions is derived. The proposed method works efficiently to be applied to solve other forms of Dodd-Bullough equations.
A Convenient and Templated	Method for the Fabrication of Monodisperse Micrometer Hollow Titania Spheres
Authors: Yao Haibo , Han Guojun
Published: July 2013

A simple and widely applicable methodology was presented to synthesize monodisperse micrometer hollow titania spheres (HTS) based on the templating method. It was performed by using the preformed poly(styrene‐acrylic acid) (PSA) as template spheres which was mixed with tetrabutyltitanate (TBOT) in an ethanol solvent under steam treatment. The HTS which were obtained by the calcination of PSA/TiO2 composite core‐shell spheres had a narrow particle size distribution and commendable surface topography characterized by SEM. The calcined HTS at 500°C displayed crystalline reflection peaks that were characteristic to the anatase phase by XRD. Moreover, some key influencing factors including TBOT concentration and reaction time were analyzed. As expected, the diameter of HTS could be readily controlled by altering the size of PSA template spheres. In addition, the approach was also applied to fabricate hollow zirconia spheres and other inorganic spheres.
Network Analysis of Acupuncture Points Used in the Treatment of Low Back Pain
Authors: Lee Soon-Ho , Kim Chang-Eop , Lee In-Seon , Jung Won-Mo , Kim Hong-Gee , Jang Hyunchul , Kim Sang-Jeong , Lee Hyejung , Park Hi-Joon , Chae Younbyoung
Published: July 2013

Background. The appropriate selection of acupoints is fundamental to obtain a therapeutic effect from clinical acupuncture.Objective. Using a network analysis method, we investigated the acupoints that are combined to treat low back pain (LBP).Methods. To analyze the patterns of the combinations of acupoints, we used acupoint information from clinical trials to calculate the modified mutual information (MI) value, integrated these data, and visualized the network.Results. Based on the highest MI values, we found two different types of acupoint pairs used in the treatment of LBP: pairs of distant acupoints and pairs of local acupoints. Using modular analysis, we found that three acupoint modules were applied in the treatment of LBP: local acupoints, distant acupoints along the meridian, and distant acupoints based on the symptom differentiations.Conclusion. Using the modified MI technique, we provide a systematic framework for the acupoint combination network, and reveal how the technique of acupoint combination is used in the treatment of LBP. Application of this knowledge in acupuncture research may help clarify the mechanisms underlying acupuncture treatment at the systems level, bridging the gap between traditional medicine and modern science.
Measuring Workplace Travel Behaviour: Validity and Reliability of Survey Questions
Authors: Petrunoff Nicholas A. , Xu Huilan , Rissel Chris , Wen Li Ming , van der Ploeg Hidde P.
Published: July 2013

Background. The purpose of this study was to assess the (previously untested) reliability and validity of survey questions commonly used to assess travel mode and travel time.Methods.Sixty-five respondents from a staff survey of travel behaviour conducted in a south-western Sydney hospital agreed to complete a travel diary for a week, wear an accelerometer over the same period, and twice complete an online travel survey an average of 21 days apart. The agreement in travel modes between the self-reported online survey and travel diary was examined with the kappa statistic. Spearman’s correlation coefficient was used to examine agreement of travel time from home to workplace measured between the self-reported online survey and four-day travel diary. Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) time of active and nonactive travellers was compared byt-test.Results. There was substantial agreement between travel modes (K=0.62,P<0.0001) and a moderate correlation for travel time (ρ=0.75,P<0.0001) reported in the travel diary and online survey. There was a high level of agreement for travel mode (K=0.82,P<0.0001) and travel time (ρ=0.83,P<0.0001) between the two travel surveys. Accelerometer data indicated that for active travellers, 16% of the journey-to-work time is MVPA, compared with 6% for car drivers. Active travellers were significantly more active across the whole workday.Conclusions. The survey question “How did you travel to work this week? If you used more than one transport mode specify the one you used for the longest (distance) portion of your journey” is reliable over 21 days and agrees well with a travel diary.
Multicenter Study of Human Papillomavirus and the Human Papillomavirus Vaccine: Knowledge and Attitudes among People of African Descent
Authors: Blackman Elizabeth , Thurman Natalie , Halliday Darron , Butler Raleigh , Francis Dorita , Joseph Madeline , Thompson Jahzreel , Akers Aletha , Andraos-Selim Cecile , Bondzi Cornelius , Taioli Emanuela , Hagan Kourtney L. , Jones Erin A. , Jones Jade , Moss Cierra M. , Smith Ar’Lena C. , Ashing Kimlin Tam , Ragin Camille C.
Published: July 2013

Objective. To compare knowledge and attitudes of human papillomavirus (HPV) and the vaccine between different cultures of African descent.Methods. A cross-sectional survey of 555 African-Americans and Afro-Caribbeans residing in the US and the Bahamas (BHM) was conducted.Results. General knowledge about HPV and the HPV vaccine differed between the two countries significantly. Bahamian respondents were less likely to have higher numbers of correct knowledge answers when compared to Americans (Adjusted Odds Ratio [Adj. OR] 0.47, 95% Confidence Interval [CI] 0.30–0.75). Older age, regardless of location, was also associated with answering fewer questions correctly (Adj. OR 0.61, 95% CI 0.40–0.92). Attitudes related to HPV vaccination were similar between the US and BHM, but nearly 80% of BHM respondents felt that children should not be able to receive the vaccine without parental consent compared to 57% of American respondents.Conclusions. Grave lack of knowledge, safety and cost concerns, and influence of parental restrictions may negatively impact vaccine uptake among African-American and Afro-Caribbean persons. Interventions to increase the vaccine uptake in the Caribbean must include medical provider and parental involvement. Effective strategies for education and increasing vaccine uptake in BHM are crucial for decreasing cervical cancer burden in the Caribbean.
DNA Detection of Toxoplasma gondii with a Magnetic Molecular Beacon Probe via CdTe@Ni Quantum Dots as Energy Donor
Authors: Xu Shichao , Zhang Chen , He Lei , Wang Tongyao , Ni Liusong , Sun Mengna , Miao Heng , Zhang Jimei , Dai Zhao , Wang Bing , Zheng Guo
Published: July 2013

A new method for detection of Toxoplasma gondii via DNA sensing technology was developed in this study. It was based on the mechanism of fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) in which multifunctional and magnetic‐fluorescent CdTe@Ni quantum dots (mQDs) were utilized as energy donor and a commercial BHQ2 as acceptor. The sensing probe was fabricated by labeling a stem‐loop Toxoplasma gondii DNA oligonucleotide with CdTe@Ni mQDs at the 5′ end and BHQ2 at 3′ end, respectively. The surface assembly of CdTe on Ni core and the formation of CdTe@Ni were confirmed by XRD analysis. The sizes of CdTe, Ni nanoparticles, and CdTe@Ni were measured via TEM and XRD methods and estimated to be ~3 nm, ~15 nm, and ~20 nm, respectively. The sensing ability was investigated by the fluorescence spectrum (FS). An obvious fluorescence recovery was observed when the complete complimentary target Toxoplasma gondii DNA was introduced, which did not happen in the case of the target DNA with one‐base pair mismatch. Our research indicates that the current sensing probe is sensitive and specific in detection of Toxoplasma gondii DNA and has great potential in Toxoplasmosis diagnosis.
A Naturally Occurring Feline Model of Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma
Authors: Wypij Jackie M.
Published: July 2013

Despite advances in understanding cancer at the molecular level, timely and effective translation to clinical application of novel therapeutics in human cancer patients is lacking. Cancer drug failure is often a result of toxicity or inefficacy not predicted by preclinical models, emphasizing the need for alternative animal tumor models with improved biologic relevancy. Companion animals (dogs and cats) provide an opportunity to capitalize on an underutilized and biologically relevant translational research model which allows spontaneous disease modeling of human cancer. Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is a common cancer with a poor prognosis and limited clinical advancements in recent years. One potential novel spontaneous animal tumor model is feline oral squamous cell carcinoma (FOSCC). FOSCC and HNSCC share similar etiopathogenesis (tobacco and papillomavirus exposure) and molecular markers (EGFR, VEGF, and p53). Both human and feline SCCs share similar tumor biology, clinical outcome, treatment, and prognosis. Future clinical trials utilizing FOSCC as a tumor model may facilitate translation of preclinical cancer research for human cancer patients.
The Medical Necessity for Medicinal Cannabis: Prospective, Observational Study Evaluating the Treatment in Cancer Patients on Supportive or Palliative Care
Authors: Bar-Sela Gil , Vorobeichik Marina , Drawsheh Saher , Omer Anat , Goldberg Victoria , Muller Ella
Published: July 2013

Background. Cancer patients using cannabis report better influence from the plant extract than from synthetic products. However, almost all the research conducted to date has been performed with synthetic products. We followed patients with a medicinal cannabis license to evaluate the advantages and side effects of using cannabis by cancer patients.Methods. The study included two interviews based on questionnaires regarding symptoms and side effects, the first held on the day the license was issued and the second 6–8 weeks later. Cancer symptoms and cannabis side effects were documented on scales from 0 to 4 following the CTCAE. The distress thermometer was used also.Results. Of the 211 patients who had a first interview, only 131 had the second interview, 25 of whom stopped treatment after less than a week. All cancer or anticancer treatment-related symptoms showed significant improvement (P<0.001). No significant side effects except for memory lessening in patients with prolonged cannabis use (P=0.002) were noted.Conclusion.The positive effects of cannabis on various cancer-related symptoms are tempered by reliance on self-reporting for many of the variables. Although studies with a control group are missing, the improvement in symptoms should push the use of cannabis in palliative treatment of oncology patients.
Energy-Efficient Routing Algorithms Based on OVSF Code and Priority in Clustered Wireless Sensor Networks
Authors: Wu Xiaoling , Wang Yangyang , Liu Guangcong , Li Jianjun , Shu Lei , Zhang Xiaobo , Chen Hainan , Lee Sungyoung
Published: July 2013

Energy awareness is a vital design issue in wireless sensor networks. Since the amount of sensing data may be large and sensor nodes are usually battery-powered, it is critical to design energy-efficient routing algorithms to prolong network lifetime. Given a certain sensor deployment, the routing strategy of sensor data would have profound effects on the communication cost. In this paper, based on low-energy adaptive clustering hierarchy (LEACH) series protocols which are low-energy consumption adaptive clustering routing protocols, we propose the OVSF mechanism based routing protocol and EERPP (Energy-Efficient Routing Protocol based on Priority). Simulation results of OVSF mechanism based protocol and EERPP demonstrate a significant improvement on the network metrics such as the lifetime and the end-to-end delay.
Chaos Synchronization Based on Unknown Input Proportional Multiple-Integral Fuzzy Observer
Authors: Youssef T. , Chadli M. , Karimi H. R. , Zelmat M.
Published: July 2013

This paper presents an unknown input Proportional Multiple-Integral Observer (PIO) for synchronization of chaotic systems based on Takagi-Sugeno (TS) fuzzy chaotic models subject to unmeasurable decision variables and unknown input. In a secure communication configuration, this unknown input is regarded as a message encoded in the chaotic system and recovered by the proposed PIO. Both states and outputs of the fuzzy chaotic models are subject to polynomial unknown input withkth derivative zero. Using Lyapunov stability theory, sufficient design conditions for synchronization are proposed. The PIO gains matrices are obtained by resolving linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) constraints. Simulation results show through two TS fuzzy chaotic models the validity of the proposed method.
The Stepwise Behavioral Responses: Behavioral Adjustment of the Chinese Rare Minnow (Gobiocypris rarus) in the Exposure of Carbamate Pesticides
Authors: Ren Zongming , Liu Liang , Fu Rongshu , Miao Mingsheng
Published: July 2013

In order to illustrate the behavioral regulation in environmental stress, the behavioral responses of the Chinese rare minnow (Gobiocypris rarus) to arprocarb, carbofuran, and oxamyl were analyzed with an online monitoring system. The Self-Organizing Map (SOM) was used to define the patterns of the behavioral data obtained from treatments at concentrations of 0.1 toxic unit (TU), 1 TU, 2 TU, 5 TU, 10 TU, and 20 TU and a control. In certain cases, differences among the carbamate pesticides (CPs) tested were observed. The profiles of behavioral strength (BS) in SOM varied according to the concentration used. The time of the first significant decrease of the BS varied inversely with the CP concentrations. The results suggested that the behavioral regulation in the stepwise behavioral responses (SBR) was evident. The primary movement behaviors shown by the SBR model included no effect, stimulation, acclimation, adjustment (readjustment), and toxic effect, especially at the lower concentrations. However, higher stress (10 TU and 20 TU) might limit the function of the behavioral adjustment produced by the intrinsic response mechanisms. It was concluded that SBR, which were affected by both the concentration and the exposure time, could be used as a suitable indicator in the ecotoxicological risk assessment of CPs.
Trim Loss Optimization by an Improved Differential Evolution
Authors: Ali Musrrat , Ahn Chang Wook , Pant Millie
Published: July 2013

The “trim loss problem” (TLP) is one of the most challenging problems in context of optimization research. It aims at determining the optimal cutting pattern of a number of items of various lengths from a stock of standard size material to meet the customers’ demands that the wastage due to trim loss is minimized. The resulting mathematical model is highly nonconvex in nature accompanied with several constraints with added restrictions of binary variables. This prevents the application of conventional optimization methods. In this paper we use synergetic differential evolution (SDE) for the solution of this type of problems. Four hypothetical but relevant cases of trim loss problem arising in paper industry are taken for the experiment. The experimental results compared with those of the other techniques show the competence of the SDE to solve the problem.
Penile Fracture: Experience from a Third World Country
Authors: Bali Rajandeep Singh , Rashid Arshad , Mushtaque Majid , Nabi Shakeeb , Thakur Sajad Ahmad , Bhat Rouf Ahmad
Published: July 2013

Aim. To ascertain the clinical presentation, commonest age group affected, and treatment of patients diagnosed to have penis fracture.Materials and Methods. We performed a retrospective study carried at a tertiary care hospital from January 2005 to January 2011. All the 36 patients diagnosed to have penile fracture were enrolled in the study group. The diagnosis was made based on the clinical findings in the patients. All, except two patients, were managed by a standard surgical procedure, same for all the patients, on the day of presentation to the hospital. All the data pertaining to the presentation, management, and followup of these patients were studied and scrutinized thoroughly.Results. Thirty-four patients were operated while 2 refused surgery. Most of our patients were between 16 and 30 years (55.6%) of age. The commonest presenting complaints were penile swelling and detumescence during sexual intercourse or an erection. All except two of our patients were managed with immediate surgical repair which had excellent results even in the presence of associated urethral injury.Conclusion. Fracture of the penis is a surgical emergency which can be best managed by immediate surgical repair with excellent results even in the presence of urethral injury.