bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Analytical solutions for calculating pore-water pressure in an infinite unsaturated slope with different root architectures
Authors: Ng C.W.W. , Liu H.W. , Feng S.
Published: May 2015

Vegetation can reduce pore-water pressure in soil by root water uptake. The reduction of pore-water pressure results in higher shear strength, but lower soil water permeability, affecting slope stability and rainfall infiltration, respectively. Effects of different root architectures on root water uptake and hence pore-water pressure distributions are not well understood. In this study, new analytical solutions for calculating pore-water pressure in an infinite unsaturated vegetated slope are derived for different root architectures, namely, uniform, triangular, exponential, and parabolic root architectures. Using the newly developed solutions, four series of analytical parametric analyses are carried out to improve understanding of the factors affecting root water uptake and hence influencing pore-water pressure distributions. In the dry season, different root architectures can lead to large variations in pore-water pressure distributions. It is found that the exponential root architecture induces the highest negative pore-water pressure in the soil, followed by the triangular, uniform, and parabolic root architectures. The maximum negative pore-water pressure induced by the parabolic root architecture is about 77% of that induced by the exponential root architecture in the steady state. For a given root architecture, vegetation in completely decomposed granite (CDG, classified as silty sand) induces higher negative pore-water pressure than in either fine sand or silt. The zone influenced by vegetation can be about three to six times the root depth. In the wet season, after a 10 year return period rainfall with a duration of 24 h, different root architectures show similar pore-water pressure distributions.
Scenario shakemaps for Montreal
Authors: Ghofrani Hadi , Atkinson Gail M. , Chouinard Luc , Rosset Philippe , Tiampo Kristy F.
Published: May 2015

Montreal has significant seismic risk due to the combination of moderate seismicity, high population density, and vulnerable infrastructure. An important tool in damage and risk assessment is a scenario shakemap, which shows the expected ground shaking intensity distribution patterns. In this study, we use regional ground motion and site response evaluations to generate scenario shakemaps for Montreal. The impact of event location on expected ground motions and intensities was tested by considering the occurrence of a scenario (a given magnitude event) at various locations, where the scenarios are defined based on an analysis of the most likely future event locations. Variability in near surface geology plays an important role in earthquake ground shaking; we use microzonation information from Montreal to assess the expected site amplification effects. The results of this study may be used as input to seismic risk studies for Montreal.
Effects of female sex hormones on expression of the Ang-(1–7)/Mas-R/nNOS pathways in rat brain
Authors: Cheng Yuan , Li Qiaoying , Zhang Yidan , Wen Quan , Zhao Jianjun
Published: May 2015

Female sex hormones are considered to reduce the risk of ischemic stroke. As a part of the renin–angiotensin system, angiotensin-(1–7) [Ang-(1–7)] has recently been reported to play a role in protecting neuronal tissues from ischemic stroke. Thus, we examined the effects of female sex hormones on the levels of Ang-(1–7) and its downstream pathways in the brain. Female rats were ovariectomized and 17β-estradiol (17β-EST), progesterone (PGR), or a combination of 17β-EST plus PGR were administered. Our data demonstrated that lack of female sex hormones significantly decreased the levels of Ang-(1–7) in the cerebral cortex and hippocampal CA1 area. Also, we observed a linear relationship between cortex levels of Ang-(1–7) and plasma brain natriuretic peptide levels (as an indicator for risk of ischemic stroke). We further showed that lack of female sex hormones decreased the expression of Ang-(1–7), Mas-receptor (Mas-R), and neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS). Overall, our findings show for the first time that Ang-(1–7) and Mas-R/nNOS in the cortex are influenced by circulating 17β-EST and (or) PGR, whereas Ang-(1–7) and its pathways in the hippocampal CA1 area are primarily altered by 17β-EST. This suggests that female sex hormones play a role in regulating the expression of Ang-(1–7) and its pathways during ischemic brain injuries.
COMMUNICATION IN INNOVATION COMMUNITIES: AN ANALYSIS OF 100 OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE PROJECTS
Authors: GEIPEL MARKUS M. , PRESS KERSTIN , SCHWEITZER FRANK
Published: May 2015

We develop a model of innovation communities which allows us to address in a systematic way the influence of users and developers as well as communication between and within these groups. Based on this model, we derive a formal approach to quantify communication flows, community activity and community turnover. These measures are calculated using the data of 100 open source software projects. Our empirical analysis shows that: (i) Users play indeed a predominant role in communication, which points towards the vivid role of an active user community; (ii) communication is highly concentrated, which points towards the importance of active individuals and (iii) community turnover exhibits only little correlation with community segregation, which may allow to benefit from high turnover rates while keeping negative effects small. We argue that insight from this extensive analysis not only complements existing case studies, it also provides a reference frame to put these singular results into perspective when aiming at generalizations.
Adaptive Control of Dominance Area of Solutions in Evolutionary Many-Objective Optimization
Authors: Tomita Kouhei , Miyakawa Minami , Sato Hiroyuki
Published: May 2015

Controlling the dominance area of solutions (CDAS) relaxes the concept of Pareto dominance with an user-defined parameter S. CDAS with S < 0.5 expands the dominance area and improves the search performance of multi-objective evolutionary algorithms (MOEAs) especially in many-objective optimization problems (MaOPs) by enhancing convergence of solutions toward the optimal Pareto front. However, there is a problem that CDAS with an expanded dominance area (S < 0.5) generally cannot approximate entire Pareto front. To overcome this problem we propose an adaptive CDAS (A-CDAS) that adaptively controls the dominance area of solutions during the solutions search. Our method improves the search performance in MaOPs by approximating the entire Pareto front while keeping high convergence. In early generations, A-CDAS tries to converge solutions toward the optimal Pareto front by using an expanded dominance area with S < 0.5. When we detect convergence of solutions, we gradually increase S and contract the dominance area of solutions to obtain Pareto optimal solutions (POS) covering the entire optimal Pareto front. We verify the effectiveness and the search performance of the proposed A-CDAS on concave and convex DTLZ3 benchmark problems with 2–8 objectives, and show that the proposed A-CDAS achieves higher search performance than conventional non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II (NSGA-II) and CDAS with an expanded dominance area.
Hub Agents Determine Collective Behavior
Authors: Iwanaga Saori , Namatame Akira
Published: May 2015

There are growing interests for studying collective behavior including the dynamics of markets, the emergence of social norms and conventions and collective phenomena in daily life such as traffic congestion. In our previous work [Iwanaga and Namatame, Collective behavior and diverse social network, International Journal of Advancements in Computing Technology 4(22) (2012) 321–320], we showed that collective behavior in cooperative relationships is affected in the structure of the social network, the initial collective behavior and diversity of payoff parameter. In this paper, we focus on scale-free network and investigate the effect of number of interactions on collective behavior. And we found that choices of hub agents determine collective behavior.
Ambient illumination switches contrast preference of specific retinal processing streams
Authors: Pearson James T. , Kerschensteiner Daniel
Published: May 2015

Contrast, a fundamental feature of visual scenes, is encoded in a distributed manner by ∼20 retinal ganglion cell (RGC) types, which stream visual information to the brain. RGC types respond preferentially to positive (ONpref) or negative (OFFpref) contrast and differ in their sensitivity to preferred contrast and responsiveness to nonpreferred stimuli. Vision operates over an enormous range of mean light levels. The influence of ambient illumination on contrast encoding across RGC types is not well understood. Here, we used large-scale multielectrode array recordings to characterize responses of mouse RGCs under lighting conditions spanning five orders in brightness magnitude. We identify three functional RGC types that switch contrast preference in a luminance-dependent manner (Sw1-, Sw2-, and Sw3-RGCs). As ambient illumination increases, Sw1- and Sw2-RGCs shift from ONpref to OFFpref and Sw3-RGCs from OFFpref to ONpref. In all cases, transitions in contrast preference are reversible and track light levels. By mapping spatiotemporal receptive fields at different mean light levels, we find that changes in input from ON and OFF pathways in receptive field centers underlie shifts in contrast preference. Sw2-RGCs exhibit direction-selective responses to motion stimuli. Despite changing contrast preference, direction selectivity of Sw2-RGCs and other RGCs as well as orientation-selective responses of RGCs remain stable across light levels.
Triptolide Attenuates Podocyte Injury by Regulating Expression of miRNA-344b-3p and miRNA-30b-3p in Rats with Adriamycin-Induced Nephropathy
Authors: Jiang Chun-Bo , Wei Ming-Gang , Tu Yue , Zhu Hao , Li Chun-Qing , Jing Wei-Min , Sun Wei
Published: May 2015

Objectives. We investigated the action of triptolide in rats with adriamycin-induced nephropathy and evaluated the possible mechanisms underlying its protective effect against podocyte injury.Methods. In total, 30 healthy male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomized into three groups (normal group, model group, and triptolide group). On days 7, 28, 42, and 56, 24 h urine samples were collected. All rats were sacrificed on day 56, and their blood and renal tissues were collected for determination of biochemical and molecular biological parameters. Expression of miRNAs in the renal cortex was analyzed by a biochip assay and RT-PCR was used to confirm observed differences in miRNA levels.Results. Triptolide decreased proteinuria, improved renal function without apparent adverse effects on the liver, and alleviated renal pathological lesions. Triptolide also elevated the nephrin protein level. Furthermore, levels of miR-344b-3p and miR-30b-3p were elevated in rats with adriamycin-induced nephropathy, while triptolide treatment reversed the increase in the expression of these two miRNAs.Conclusions. These results suggest that triptolide may attenuate podocyte injury in rats with adriamycin-induced nephropathy by regulating expression of miRNA-344b-3p and miRNA-30b-3p.
Bolt Pull-Out Tests of Anchorage Body under Different Loading Rates
Authors: Zhao Tong-bin , Guo Wei-yao , Yin Yan-chun , Tan Yun-liang
Published: May 2015

Based on the force analysis and mechanical transmission mechanism of grouting bolts, the self-developed test apparatus for interfacial mechanics is used to study the distribution rule of axial force and interfacial stress of bolts in anchorage body. At the same time, pull-out tests of anchorage body are simulated with the particle flow code softwarePFC2D, and stress distribution and failure patters are researched under different loading rates. The results show that the distribution of axial force and interfacial shear stress is nonuniform along the anchorage section: axial force decreases, shear force increases first and then decreases, and the maximum value of both of them is closed to the pull-out side; with the increase of loading rates, both of axial force and interfacial shear stress show a trend of increase in the upper anchorage section but changes are not obvious in the lower anchorage section, which causes serious stress concentration; failure strength of pull-out and loading rates show a linear correlation; according to loading rates’ impact on the anchoring effect, the loading rates’ scope can be divided into soft scope (v<10 mm/s), moderate scope (10 mm/s <v< 100 mm/s), and strong scope (v>100 mm/s).
Preparation and Characterization of Ni-Doped Calcium Silicate Hydrate Based on Steel Slag: Adsorption Capacity for Rhodamine B from Aqueous Solution
Authors: Zeng Lu , Yang Ligang
Published: May 2015

Calcium silicate hydrate based on steel slag (SCSH) and Ni-doped SCSH (NSCSH) were synthesized under specific hydrothermal conditions at saturated vapor pressure and 185°C for 7 hours. The structure and morphology of SCSH and NSCSH were characterized by XRD, SEM, and N2adsorption/desorption. SCSH mainly consisted of amorphous calcium silicate hydrate gel (C-S-H gel) together with some flake-like tobermorite and NSCSH consisted of crystalline tobermorite and xonotlite. The addition of Ni(NO3)2had great influence on microstructure of the composites, and SCSH possesses a mesoporous structure with slit-shaped pores, but NSCSH has narrow distributions of pore size. Furthermore, NSCSH has a higher adsorption capacity for Rhodamine B (RhB) than SCSH with removal percentages of RhB of about 52.4% and 88.2%, respectively. In addition, the effects of NSCSH dosage and pH values on the adsorption of RhB were investigated. Adsorption isotherm parameters are obtained from both Langmuir and Freundlich analysis and showed a better fit to a Langmuir model. All results indicated that NSCSH has a great potential to be a safe, easily-made, and cost-effective material for the control of RhB contamination.
Hydrodynamic Modeling of the Interaction of Winds within a Collapsing Turbulent Gas Cloud
Authors: Arreaga-García Guillermo , Saucedo-Morales Julio
Published: May 2015

By using the particle-based code Gadget2, we follow the evolution of a gas giant molecular cloud, in which a set of gas particles representing the wind are created by a Monte Carlo scheme and suddenly move outwards from the cloud’s center. The particles representing the gas cloud initially have a velocity according to a turbulent spectrum built in a Fourier space of 643grid elements. The level of turbulence and the temperature of the cloud are both adjusted so that a gravitational collapse of the cloud is initially induced. All the winds are activated in a very early stage of evolution of the cloud. We consider only two kinds of winds, namely, one with spherical symmetry and the second one of a bipolar collimated jet. In order to assess the dynamical change in the cloud due to interactions with the winds, we show isovelocity and isodensity plots for all our simulations. We also report on the accretion centers detected at the last simulation time available for each model.
Reliable and Swift Message Broadcast Method in Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks
Authors: Park Jaesung , Lim Yujin
Published: May 2015

A vehicular ad hoc network (VANET) could deliver safety-related messages reliably within a short time to increase road safety. Since safety-related messages should be sent to a set of unspecified receivers, they are delivered by broadcast method. However, the broadcast method specified in the IEEE 802.11p does not have a collision avoidance procedure and receivers do not acknowledge when they receive a broadcast frame. In addition, frames could be lost and corrupted. Therefore, as the portion of nodes that do not receive a broadcast frame increases, the effectiveness of a safety application decreases. To tackle the problem, we propose a reliable and swift message broadcast method (RSMB). In RSMB, to expedite message dissemination process, a relay node is selected in a distributed manner considering the progress made to a frame and the delay requirements of an application. In addition, a relay node broadcasts a message multiple times to assure that the probability that the other nodes successfully receive the message at least once is larger than a given threshold value. Since the number of rebroadcasts is regulated based on the successful message reception probability, the additional bandwidth needed to increase the reliability of broadcast is reasonably small.
BEMER Therapy Combined with Physiotherapy in Patients with Musculoskeletal Diseases: A Randomised, Controlled Double Blind Follow-Up Pilot Study
Authors: Gyulai Franciska , Rába Katalin , Baranyai Ildikó , Berkes Enikő , Bender Tamás
Published: May 2015

Background.This study evaluates the effect of adjuvant BEMER therapy in patients with knee arthrosis and chronic low back pain in a randomized double blind design.Methods. A total of 50 patients with chronic low back pain and 50 patients with osteoarthritis of knee took part in this study and were randomized into 4 groups. Hospitalized patients received a standardized physiotherapy package for 3 weeks followed by BEMER therapy or placebo.Results. In patients with low back pain, the comparison of the results obtained at the first and second visit showed a significant improvement in resting VAS scores and Fatigue Scale scores. The Oswestry scores and Quality of Life Scale scores showed no change. In patients with knee arthrosis, the comparison of the first and second measurements showed no significant improvement in the abovementioned parameters, while the comparison of the first and third scores revealed a significant improvement in the Fatigue Scale scores and in the vitality test on the Quality of Life Scale.Conclusions. Our study showed that BEMER physical vascular therapy reduced pain and fatigue in the short term in patients with chronic low back pain, while long-term therapy appears to be beneficial in patients with osteoarthritis of knee.
Molecular Analysis of AFP and HSA Interactions with PTEN Protein
Authors: Zhu Mingyue , Lin Bo , Zhou Peng , Li Mengsen
Published: May 2015

Human cytoplasmic alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) has been classified as a member of the albuminoid gene family. The protein sequence of AFP has significant homology to that of human serum albumin (HSA), but its biological characteristics are vastly different from HSA. The AFP functions as a regulator in the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (AKT) pathway, but HSA plays a key role as a transport protein. To probe their molecular mechanisms, we have applied colocalization, coimmunoprecipitation (co-IP), and molecular docking approaches to analyze the differences between AFP and HSA. The data from colocalization and co-IP displayed a strong interaction between AFP and PTEN (phosphatase and tensin homolog), demonstrating that AFP did bind to PTEN, but HSA did not. The molecular docking study further showed that the AFP domains I and III could contact with PTEN.In siliconsubstitutions of AFP binding site residues at position 490M/K and 105L/R corresponding to residues K490 and R105 in HSA resulted in steric clashes with PTEN residues R150 and K46, respectively. These steric clashes may explain the reason why HSA cannot bind to PTEN. Ultimately, the experimental results and the molecular modeling data from the interactions of AFP and HSA with PTEN will help us to identify targets for designing drugs and vaccines against human hepatocellular carcinoma.
A Rare Cause of Persistent Pulmonary Hypertension Resistant to Therapy in The Newborn: Short-Rib Polydactyly Syndrome
Authors: Demir Nihat , Peker Erdal , Ece İbrahim , Kaba Sultan , Ağengin Kemal , Tuncer Oğuz
Published: May 2015

Short-rib polydactyly syndrome is an autosomal recessively inherited lethal skeletal dysplasia. The syndrome is characterized by marked narrow fetal thorax, short extremities, micromelia, cleft palate/lip, polydactyly, cardiac and renal abnormalities, and genital malformations. In cases with pulmonary hypoplasia, persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn can develop. In this paper, we present a term newborn with persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn, which has developed secondary to short-rib polydactyly syndrome and was resistant to therapy with inhaled nitric oxide and oral sildenafil.
Vitamin D Deficiency Is Associated with the Presence and Severity of Diabetic Retinopathy in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus
Authors: Alcubierre Nuria , Valls Joan , Rubinat Esther , Cao Gonzalo , Esquerda Aureli , Traveset Alicia , Granado-Casas Minerva , Jurjo Carmen , Mauricio Didac
Published: May 2015

There is very few evidences on the role of vitamin D in the development of diabetic retinopathy. The aim of the current study was to explore whether there is an association of vitamin D status and diabetic retinopathy in type 2 diabetes. Two groups of patients were selected: 139 and 144 patients with and without retinopathy, respectively, as assessed by an experienced ophthalmologist. Subjects with advanced late diabetic complications were excluded to avoid confounding biases. 25-Hydroxy-vitamin D3(25(OH)D) concentrations and vitamin D deficiency were associated with the presence of diabetic retinopathy. Additionally, patients with more advanced stages of retinopathy (grades 2–4) had lower concentrations of 25(OH)D and were more frequently vitamin D deficient as compared with patients not carrying this eye complication. In conclusion, our study confirms the association of vitamin D deficiency with the presence and severity of diabetic retinopathy in type 2 diabetes. Further experimental and prospective studies on this issue are clearly warranted.
Quasi-Sliding Networked Control of Systems Subject to Unbounded Disturbance with Limited Rate of Change
Authors: Bartoszewicz Andrzej , Latosiński Paweł
Published: May 2015

This paper concerns network based sliding mode control of linear plants with state measurement delay. The considered plants are subject to unbounded disturbance, but it is assumed that the change of disturbance value between each two subsequent sampling instants is limited. In order to combat the unpredictable disturbance in the environment with state measurement delay, a novel sliding mode controller has been introduced. It utilizes two nominal models of the plant to drive the system state along a desired trajectory and counteract the predicted effect of the past disturbance on the system. It has been proven that applying the new control strategy to the plant confines the system state to a defined band around the sliding hyperplane.
Chatter Prediction for Variable Pitch and Variable Helix Milling
Authors: Wang Yong , Wang Taiyong , Yu Zhiqiang , Zhang Yue , Wang Yulong , Liu Hengli
Published: May 2015

Regenerative chatter is a self-excited vibration that can occur during milling, which shortens the lifetime of the tool and results in unacceptable surface quality. In this paper, an improved semidiscretization method for modeling and simulation with variable pitch and variable helix milling is proposed. Because the delay between each flute varies along the axial depth of the tool in milling, the cutting tool is discrete into some axial layers to simplify calculation. A comparison of the predicted and observed performance of variable pitch and variable helix against uniform pitch and uniform helix milling is presented. It is shown that variable pitch and variable helix milling can obtain larger stable cutting area than uniform pitch and uniform helix milling. Thus, it is concluded that variable pitch and variable helix milling are an effective way for suppressing chatter.
Robust Fault Diagnosis Design for Linear Multiagent Systems with Incipient Faults
Authors: Xia Jingping , Jiang Bin , Zhang Ke , Xu Jinfa
Published: May 2015

The design of a robust fault estimation observer is studied for linear multiagent systems subject to incipient faults. By considering the fact that incipient faults are in low-frequency domain, the fault estimation of such faults is proposed for discrete-time multiagent systems based on finite-frequency technique. Moreover, using the decomposition design, an equivalent conclusion is given. Simulation results of a numerical example are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed techniques.
Altered Expression of NF-κB and SP1 after Exposure to Advanced Glycation End-Products and Effects of Neurotrophic Factors in AGEs Exposed Rat Retinas
Authors: Bikbova Guzel , Oshitari Toshiyuki , Baba Takayuki , Yamamoto Shuichi
Published: May 2015

To determine the effect of advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) on neurite regeneration, and also to determine the regenerative effects of different neurotrophic factors (NTFs) on rat retinal explants, the retinas of SD rats were cultured in three-dimensional collagen gels and incubated in 6 types of media: (1) serum-free control culture media; (2) 100 μg/mL AGEs-BSA media; (3) AGEs-BSA + 100 ng/mL neurotrophin-4 (NT-4) media; (4) AGEs-BSA + 100 ng/mL hepatocyte growth factor media; (5) AGEs-BSA + 100 ng/mL glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor media; or (6) AGEs-BSA + 100 µM tauroursodeoxycholic acid media. After 7 days, the number of regenerating neurites was counted. The explants were immunostained for nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) and specificity protein 1 (SP1). Statistical analyses were performed by one-way ANOVA. In retinas incubated with AGEs, the numbers of neurites were fewer than in control. All of the NTFs increased the number of neurites, and the increase was more significant in the NT-4 group. The number of NF-κB and SP1 immunopositive cells was higher in retinas exposed to AGEs than in control. All of the NTFs decreased the number of NF-κB immunopositive cells but did not significantly affect SP1 expression. These results demonstrate the potential of the NTFs as axoprotectants in AGEs exposed retinal neurons.
Effects of Carboxylated Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes on the Function of Macrophages
Authors: Dong Xia , Liu Lanxia , Zhu Dunwan , Zhang Hailing , Li Yingxin , Leng Xigang
Published: May 2015

Multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) have tremendous potential in many areas of research and applications. Modification of MWCNTs with carboxyl group is one of the widely used strategies to increase their water dispersibility. However, the effect of carboxylation of MWCNTs on their interaction with macrophages remains unclear. The current study compared the impact of pristine MWCNTs (p‐MWCNTs) and carboxylic acid functionalized MWCNTs (MWCNTs‐COOH) on RAW264.7 cells by looking at the cell viability, phagocytic activity, production of cytokines (IL‐1β, IL‐10, IL‐12, and TNF‐α), and intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS). It was revealed that exposure to either p‐MWCNTs or MWCNTs‐COOH induced decreased viability of murine macrophage RAW 264.7 cells and moderately elevated phagocytic activity of murine peritoneal macrophages, but no statistical significance was found between the two groups. Increased production of ROS in macrophages was induced after exposure to either p‐MWCNTs or MWCNTs‐COOH. However, no significantly elevated production of cytokines (IL‐1β, IL‐10, IL‐12, and TNF‐α) was observed from RAW 264.7 cells after exposure to the CNTs. Those data suggested that modification with carboxyl group did not exert obvious impact on the interaction of MWCNTs with macrophages.
Patterns of Objective and Subjective Burden of Informal Caregivers in Multiple Sclerosis
Authors: Bayen E. , Papeix C. , Pradat-Diehl P. , Lubetzki C. , Joël M. E.
Published: May 2015

Background. Home care for patients with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) relies largely on informal caregivers (ICs).Methods. We assessed ICs objective burden (Resource Utilization in Dementia measuring informal care time (ICT)) and ICs subjective burden (Zarit Burden Inventory (ZBI)).Results. ICs (N=99) were spouses (70%), mean age 52 years, assisting disabled patients with a mean EDSS (Expanded Disability Status Scale) of 5.5, with executive dysfunction (mean DEX (Dysexecutive questionnaire) of 25) and a duration of MS ranging from 1 to 44 years. Objective burden was high (mean ICT = 6.5 hours/day), mostly consisting of supervision time. Subjective burden was moderate (mean ZBI = 27.3). Multivariate analyses showed that both burdens were positively correlated with higher levels of EDSS and DEX, whereas coresidency and IC’s female gender correlated with objective burden only and IC’s poor mental health status with subjective burden only. When considering MS aggressiveness, it appeared that both burdens were not correlated with a higher duration of MS but rather increased for patients with severe and early dysexecutive function and for patients classified as fast progressors according to the Multiple Sclerosis Severity Score.Conclusion. Evaluation of MS disability course and IC’s personal situation is crucial to understand the burden process and to implement adequate interventions in MS.
Dynamic Effect and Control of Key Strata Break of Immediate Roof in Fully Mechanized Mining with Large Mining Height
Authors: Yong Yuan , Shihao Tu , Xiaogang Zhang , Bo Li
Published: May 2015

This paper puts forward the concept of key strata in immediate roof (KSIF) and studied the dynamic effect and control mechanism of KSIF. The results show that KSIR controls the caving of its upper immediate roof strata; the break of KSIR has direct dynamic impact on its lower strata and this impact increases along with the increase of the thickness and hardness of the KSIR and the decrease of the distance to the working seam. The KSIR and main roof can easily form the bilayer structure “Cantilever-Masonry beam.” Support work load is affected by the position, thickness, and hardness of KSIR. The support work load increased on the condition of increase of the thickness and hardness of KSIR and the decrease of the distance to the face.
Effects of Naringin on Proliferation and Osteogenic Differentiation of Human Periodontal Ligament Stem Cells In Vitro and In Vivo
Authors: Yin Lihua , Cheng Wenxiao , Qin Zishun , Yu Hongdou , Yu Zhanhai , Zhong Mei , Sun Kemo , Zhang Wei
Published: May 2015

This study is to explore the osteogenesis potential of the human periodontal ligament stem cells (hPDLSCs) induced by naringin in vitro and in vitro. The results confirmed that 1 μM naringin performs the best effect and a collection of bone-related genes (RUNX2,COL1A2, OPN, and OCN) had significantly higher expression levels compared to the control group. Furthermore, a typical trabecular structure was observed in vivo, surrounded by a large amount of osteoblasts. These results demonstrated that naringin, at a concentration of 1 μM, can efficiently promote the proliferation and differentiation of hPDLSCs both in vitro and in vivo.
The Application of JDL to Suppress Sea Clutter for Shipborne HFSWR
Authors: Ji Zhenyuan , Yi Chunlei , Xie Junhao , Li Yang
Published: May 2015

This paper deals with the problem of sea clutter suppression for shipborne high frequency surface wave radar (HFSWR) based on the joint domain localized (JDL) adaptive processing algorithm. The performance of the novel method is compared with 2D FFT plus digital beamforming (FFT-DBF) and orthogonal weight in different azimuths. The results based on simulated and real data show that the novel method provides higher detection performance than others.
RONI Based Secured and Authenticated Indexing of Lung CT Images
Authors: Jasmine Selvakumari Jeya I. , Suganthi J.
Published: May 2015

Medical images need to be transmitted with the patient’s information without altering the image data. The present paper discusses secured indexing of lung CT image (SILI) which is a secured way of indexing the lung CT images with the patient information. Authentication is provided using the sender’s logo information and the secret key is used for embedding the watermark into the host image. Watermark is embedded into the region of Noninterest (RONI) of the lung CT image. RONI is identified by segmenting the lung tissue from the CT scan image. The experimental results show that the proposed approach is robust against unauthorized access, noise, blurring, and intensity based attacks.
Change Point Determination for an Attribute Process Using an Artificial Neural Network-Based Approach
Authors: Shao Yuehjen E. , Lin Ke-Shan
Published: May 2015

The change point identification has played a vital role in process improvement for an attribute process. This identification is able to effectively help process personnel to quickly determine the corresponding root causes and significantly improve the underlying process. Although many studies have focused on identifying the change point of a process, a generic identification approach has not been developed. The typical maximum likelihood estimator (MLE) approach has limitations: particularly, the known prior process distribution and mathematical difficulties. These deficiencies are commonly encountered in practice. Accordingly, this study proposes an artificial neural network (ANN) mechanism to overcome the difficulties of typical MLE approach in determining the change point of an attribute process. Specifically, the performance among the statistical process control (SPC) chart alone, the typical MLE approach, and the proposed ANN mechanism are investigated for the following cases: (1) a known attribute process distribution with the associated MLE being available to be used, (2) an unknown attribute process distribution with the MLE being unable to be used, and (3) an unknown attribute process distribution with the MLE being misused. The superior results and the performance of the proposed approach are reported and discussed.
The Effects of Surface Properties of Nanostructured Bone Repair Materials on Their Performances
Authors: Zhao Feng , Wang Jian , Guo Hongjuan , Liu Shaojun , He Wei
Published: May 2015

Nanotechnology has been expected to be an extraordinarily promising method for bone repair. Meanwhile, the promise of nanobiomaterials for therapeutic applications has been widely reported, and a lot of studies have been made in terms of repairing bone using nanomaterials accompanied by rapid development of nanotechnology. Compared with conventional biomaterials, nanostructured implants have been shown to possess positive effects on cellular functions because of their unique surface properties, such as nanotopography, increased wettability, larger surface area, and microenvironment similar to extracellular matrix. Moreover, many positive cellular responses have been found to take place at the interface between nanostructured implants and host bone. In this paper, we will give a review about the effects of surface properties of nanostructured bone repair materials on their performances in terms of several aspects and a detailed interpretation or introduction on the specific cellular recognitions at the interface between nanostructured implants and host bone.
Design of a Circularly Polarized Galileo E6-Band Textile Antenna by Dedicated Multiobjective Constrained Pareto Optimization
Authors: Dierck Arnaut , Declercq Frederick , Vervust Thomas , Rogier Hendrik
Published: May 2015

Designing textile antennas for real-life applications requires a design strategy that is able to produce antennas that are optimized over a wide bandwidth for often conflicting characteristics, such as impedance matching, axial ratio, efficiency, and gain, and, moreover, that is able to account for the variations that apply for the characteristics of the unconventional materials used in smart textile systems. In this paper, such a strategy, incorporating a multiobjective constrained Pareto optimization, is presented and applied to the design of a Galileo E6-band antenna with optimal return loss and wide-band axial ratio characteristics. Subsequently, different prototypes of the optimized antenna are fabricated and measured to validate the proposed design strategy.
Markers of Oxidative Stress and Neuroprogression in Depression Disorder
Authors: Vaváková Magdaléna , Ďuračková Zdeňka , Trebatická Jana
Published: May 2015

Major depression is multifactorial disorder with high prevalence and alarming prognostic in the nearest 15 years. Several mechanisms of depression are known. Neurotransmitters imbalance and imbalance between neuroprogressive and neuroprotective factors are observed in major depression. Depression is accompanied by inflammatory responses of the organism and consequent elevation of proinflammatory cytokines and increased lipid peroxidation are described in literature. Neuropsychiatric disorders including major depression are also associated with telomerase shortening, oxidative changes in nucleotides, and polymorphisms in several genes connected to metabolism of reactive oxygen species. Mitochondrion dysfunction is directly associated with increasing levels of oxidative stress. Oxidative stress plays significant role in pathophysiology of major depression via actions of free radicals, nonradical molecules, and reactive oxygen and nitrogen species. Products of oxidative stress represent important parameters for measuring and predicting of depression status as well as for determining effectiveness of administrated antidepressants. Positive effect of micronutrients, vitamins, and antioxidants in depression treatment is also reviewed.
Spatial and Seasonal Variation in Rain Use Efficiency in Semiarid Grasslands of Inner Mongolia
Authors: Bhandari Jyoti , Pan Xuebiao , Bijaya G. C. Dhruba
Published: May 2015

Rain use efficiency (RUE) is an important indicator for identifying the response of plant production to variation in precipitation patterns, especially in semiarid ecosystem grasslands of Inner Mongolia. We have investigated the response and spatial patterns of RUE to precipitation patterns based on five years (2006, 2007, 2008, 2012, and 2013) of records from semiarid ecosystem sites across Inner Mongolia. Our results showed thatRUEADMwas lowest in the wettest year (2012) and highest in the year following the driest year (2008). There was no significant correlation betweenRUEADMandRUETDMin typical and desert steppe.RUETDMwas strongly correlated with both annual precipitation (AP) and growing season precipitation (GSP) compared toRUEADM.RUEADM, therefore, cannot be used in place ofRUETDM.RUEADMincreased with species richness. The relationship betweenRUEADMand species richness was significantly correlated in meadow steppe, typical steppe, and desert steppe. Our findings can shed light on the spatial utilization pattern of seasonal rainfall in semiarid grassland ecosystems.
Chronotypes in Patients with Epilepsy: Does the Type of Epilepsy Make a Difference?
Authors: Kendis Hallie , Baron Kelly , Schuele Stephan U. , Patel Bhavita , Attarian Hrayr
Published: May 2015

Circadian rhythms govern all biological functions. Circadian misalignment has a major impact on health. Late chronotype is a risk factor for circadian misalignment which in turn can affect the control of seizures in epilepsy patients. We compared a group of 87 confirmed epilepsy patients regardless of subtypes with age- and sex-matched healthy controls. We compared generalized epilepsy patients with localization related epilepsy patients and with healthy controls. We found that primary generalized epilepsy patients were 5 times more likely to have a late chronotype than healthy controls. We did not find any significant differences between localization related epilepsy patients and healthy controls or between the overall epilepsy cohort and healthy controls. Generalized epilepsy patients are more likely to be evening types as compared to those with focal epilepsy or subjects without epilepsy. Epilepsy patients do not experience the same age related increase in morningness as do age-matched healthy controls. This is important in regard to timing of AED, identifying and preventing sleep deprivation, and integrating chronotype evaluations and chronotherapy in comprehensive epilepsy care. Further studies, using objective phase markers or the impact of chronotherapy on seizure control, are necessary.
Anti-Phosphatidylserine/Prothrombin Antibodies Are Associated with Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes
Authors: Žigon Polona , Perdan Pirkmajer Katja , Tomšič Matija , Kveder Tanja , Božič Borut , Sodin Šemrl Snežna , Čučnik Saša , Ambrožič Aleš
Published: May 2015

Objective. To determine the prevalence and clinical association of anti-phosphatidylserine/prothrombin antibodies (aPS/PT) in patients with a history of pregnancy complications relevant to antiphospholipid syndrome (APS).Materials and Methods. Two hundred and eleven patients with a history of (a) three or more consecutive miscarriages before 10th week of gestation (WG) (n=64), (b) death of a morphologically normal fetus beyond 10th WG (n=72), (c) premature birth of a morphologically normal neonate before 34th WG due to eclampsia, preeclamsia and placental insufficiency (n=33), and (d) less than three unexplained consecutive miscarriages before 10th WG (n=42). Subjects sera were analyzed for lupus anticoagulant (LA), anti-cardiolipin (aCL), anti-β2-glycoprotein I (anti-β2GPI), and aPS/PT antibodies.Results. 41/169 (24.3%) of patients were positive for at least one measured aPL. The highest prevalence was found for aPS/PT and aCL (13.0% and 12.4%, resp.) followed by LA (7.7%) and anti-β2GPI (7.1%). 11/169 with APS-related obstetric manifestations had only aPS/PT. 17.8% of patients were positive for LA or aCL and/or anti-β2GPI; however when adding the aPS/PT results, an additional 7% of patients could be evaluated for APS.Conclusion. aPS/PT are associated with recurrent early or late abortions and with premature delivery irrespective of other aPL.
Warfarin-Associated Diaphragmatic Hernia: An Unusual Diagnosis
Authors: Vilhena Cristina , Gameiro Cátia , Tomás Cláudia , Santos Antónia , Ilgenfritz Raquel
Published: May 2015

Fetal warfarin syndrome is a consequence of maternal intake of warfarin during pregnancy and comprises a wide range of manifestations, including some typical facial dysmorphologic features. The authors report a case of prenatal ultrasonographic diagnosis of warfarin embryopathy in an obese woman on unsupervised warfarin prophylaxis at the 16th week of gestation. The fetus presented with facial dysmorphism, pectus excavatum, diaphragmatic hernia, and pulmonary hypoplasia. To the best of our knowledge, this is the second reported case of warfarin-associated diaphragmatic hernia.
Joint Phased-MIMO and Nested-Array Beamforming for Increased Degrees-of-Freedom
Authors: Zhu Chenglong , Chen Hui , Shao Huaizong
Published: May 2015

Phased-multiple-input multiple-output (phased-MIMO) enjoys the advantages of MIMO virtual array and phased-array directional gain, but it gets the directional gain at a cost of reduced degrees-of-freedom (DOFs). To compensate the DOF loss, this paper proposes a joint phased-array and nested-array beamforming based on the difference coarray processing and spatial smoothing. The essence is to use a nested-array in the receiver and then fully exploit the second order statistic of the received data. In doing so, the array system offers more DOFs which means more sources can be resolved. The direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation performance of the proposed method is evaluated by examining the root-mean-square error. Simulation results show the proposed method has significant superiorities to the existing phased-MIMO.
Spatiotemporal Heterogeneity Characterizes the Genetic Landscape of Pheochromocytoma and Defines Early Events in Tumorigenesis
Authors: Crona Joakim , Backman Samuel , Maharjan Rajani , Mayrhofer Markus , Stålberg Peter , Isaksson Anders , Hellman Per , Björklund Peyman
Published: May 2015

Purpose: Pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma (PPGL) patients display heterogeneity in the clinical presentation and underlying genetic cause. The degree of inter- and intratumor genetic heterogeneity has not yet been defined.

Experimental Design: In PPGLs from 94 patients, we analyzed LOH, copy-number variations, and mutation status of SDHA, SDHB, SDHC, SDHD, SDHAF2, VHL, EPAS1, NF1, RET, TMEM127, MAX, and HRAS using high-density SNP array and targeted deep sequencing, respectively. Genetic heterogeneity was determined through (i) bioinformatics analysis of individual samples that estimated absolute purity and ploidy from SNP array data and (ii) comparison of paired tumor samples that allowed reconstruction of phylogenetic trees.

Results: Mutations were found in 61% of the tumors and correlated with specific patterns of somatic copy-number aberrations (SCNA) and degree of nontumoral cell admixture. Intratumor genetic heterogeneity was observed in 74 of 136 samples using absolute bioinformatics estimations and in 22 of 24 patients by comparison of paired samples. In addition, a low genetic concordance was observed between paired primary tumors and distant metastases. This allowed for reconstructing the life history of individual tumors, identifying somatic mutations as well as copy-number loss of 3p and 11p (VHL subgroup), 1p (Cluster 2), and 17q (NF1 subgroup) as early events in PPGL tumorigenesis.

Conclusions: Genomic landscapes of PPGL are specific to mutation subtype and characterized by genetic heterogeneity both within and between tumor lesions of the same patient. Clin Cancer Res; 21(19); 4451–60. ©2015 AACR.
Untouched GMP-Ready Purified Engineered Immune Cells to Treat Cancer
Authors: Straetemans Trudy , Gründer Cordula , Heijhuurs Sabine , Hol Samantha , Slaper-Cortenbach Ineke , Bönig Halvard , Sebestyen Zsolt , Kuball Jürgen
Published: May 2015

Purpose: Engineering T cells with receptors to redirect the immune system against cancer has most recently been described as a scientific breakthrough. However, a main challenge remains the GMP-grade purification of immune cells selectively expressing the introduced receptor in order to reduce potential side effects due to poorly or nonengineered cells.

Experimental Design: In order to test a novel purification strategy, we took advantage of a model γδT cell receptor (TCR), naturally interfering with endogenous TCR expression and designed the optimal retroviral expression cassette to achieve maximal interference with endogenous TCR chains. Following retroviral transduction, nonengineered and poorly engineered immune cells characterized by a high endogenous αβTCR expression were efficiently depleted with GMP-grade anti-αβTCR beads. Next, the engineered immune cells were validated for TCR expression, function against a panel of tumor cell lines and primary tumors and potential allo-reactivity. Engineered immune cells were further validated in two humanized mouse tumor models.

Results: The untouched enrichment of engineered immune cells translated into highly purified receptor-engineered cells with strong antitumor reactivity both in vitro and in vivo. Importantly, this approach eliminated residual allo-reactivity of engineered immune cells. Our data demonstrate that even with long-term suboptimal interference with endogenous TCR chains such as in resting cells, allo-reactivity remained absent and tumor control preserved.

Conclusions: We present a novel enrichment method for the production of untouched engineered immune cells, ready to be translated into a GMP-grade method and potentially applicable to all receptor-modified cells even if interference with endogenous TCR chains is far from complete. Clin Cancer Res; 21(17); 3957–68. ©2015 AACR.