bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Fuzzy TOPSIS for Multiresponse Quality Problems in Wafer Fabrication Processes
Authors: Liu Chiun-Ming , Ji Mei-Yu , Chuang Wen-Chieh
Published: May 2013

The quality characteristics in the wafer fabrication process are diverse, variable, and fuzzy in nature. How to effectively deal with multiresponse quality problems in the wafer fabrication process is a challenging task. In this study, the fuzzy technique for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution (TOPSIS), one of the fuzzy multiattribute decision-analysis (MADA) methods, is proposed to investigate the fuzzy multiresponse quality problem in integrated-circuit (IC) wafer fabrication process. The fuzzy TOPSIS is one of the effective fuzzy MADA methods for dealing with decision-making problems under uncertain environments. First, a fuzzy TOPSIS methodology is developed by considering the ambiguity between quality characteristics. Then, a detailed procedure for the developed fuzzy TOPSIS approach is presented to show how the fuzzy wafer fabrication quality problems can be solved. Real-world data is collected from an IC semiconductor company and the developed fuzzy TOPSIS approach is applied to find an optimal combination of parameters. Results of this study show that the developed approach provides a satisfactory solution to the wafer fabrication multiresponse problem. This developed approach can be also applied to other industries for investigating multiple quality characteristics problems.
Modelling Human Channelopathies Using Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells: A Comprehensive Review
Authors: Müller Martin , Seufferlein Thomas , Illing Anett , Homann Jörg
Published: May 2013

The generation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) has pioneered the field of regenerative medicine and developmental biology. They can be generated by overexpression of a defined set of transcription factors in somatic cells derived from easily accessible tissues such as skin or plucked hair or even human urine. In case of applying this tool to patients who are classified into a disease group, it enables the generation of a disease- and patient-specific research platform. iPS cells have proven a significant tool to elucidate pathophysiological mechanisms in various diseases such as diabetes, blood disorders, defined neurological disorders, and genetic liver disease. One of the first successfully modelled human diseases was long QT syndrome, an inherited cardiac channelopathy which causes potentially fatal cardiac arrhythmia. This review summarizes the efforts of reprogramming various types of long QT syndrome and discusses the potential underlying mechanisms and their application.
Total Energy Growth Rate of Rolling Bearing due to Faults during Run-Up
Authors: Wang Zhongqiu , Zhu Zhencai , Li Wei , Chen Guoan , Zhou Gongbo
Published: May 2013

In order to improve the reliability of fault diagnosis, total energy growth rate of rolling bearing during run-up is defined and applied to bearing detection. Firstly, an approach of merging short-time Fourier transform (STFT), linear fitting and median filtering is developed to extract the total energy growth rate. Secondly, the relationship between the total energy growth rate and different running conditions is discussed. Thirdly, the total energy growth rate is adopted to diagnose faults as input vector of radial basis function (RBF) neural network. Experiment results show that the total energy growth rate is an effective failure symbol for fault diagnosis of rolling bearing during run-up.
Extreme Dynamic Responses of MW-Level Wind Turbine Tower in the Strong Typhoon Considering Wind-Rain Loads
Authors: Wang Zhenyu , Zhao Yan , Li Fuqiang , Jiang Jianqun
Published: May 2013

The damage and collapse accidents of wind turbines during violent typhoons and rainstorms have increased in recent years. To determine the dynamic response characteristics of high-power wind turbines under extreme conditions, wind load and rain load are simulated. The typhoon average wind velocity and fluctuating wind velocity are simulated by the unstable wind profile and harmony superposition method. The raindrop size distribution is simulated by the M-P spectrum, and the rain load is calculated according to the momentum theorem. A finite element model is established to study the aerodynamic responses of a wind turbine under random typhoon load and typhoon-rain loads. The maximum displacements and accelerations at the tower top and the maximum von Mises stresses at the tower bottom are calculated and compared after considering various combinations of wind direction deflections and rainfall intensities. The results indicate that instantaneous wind direction deflection has a substantial impact on the dynamic responses of wind turbines, and after introducing the effect of rain, the dynamic responses increase up to 13.7% with increasing rainfall intensities. This study has significant implications for analysing collapse accidents of wind turbines and for optimising the design of wind turbines under extreme typhoon conditions.
Emissions of SO3 from a Coal-Fired Fluidized Bed under Normal and Staged Combustion
Authors: Khan Wasi Z. , Gibbs Bernard M. , Ayaganova Assem
Published: May 2013

This paper reports the measurements of SO3 emissions with and without limestone under unstaged and staged fluidized-bed combustion, carried out on a  m2 and 2 m high stainless-steel combustor at atmospheric pressure. The secondary air was injected 100 cm above the distributor. SO3 emissions were monitored for staging levels of 85 : 15, 70 : 30, and 60 : 40, equivalent to a primary air/coal ratio (PACR) of ~0.86, 0.75, and 0.67. Experiments were carried out at 0%–60% excess air level, 1-2 m/s fluidizing velocity, 800–850°C bed temperature, and 20–30 cm bed height. During unstaged combustion runs, SO3 emissions were monitored for a wide range of Ca/S ratios from 0.5 to 13. However, for the staged combustion runs, the Ca/S ratio was fixed at 3. SO3 was retained to a lesser extent than SO2, suggesting that SO2 reacts preferentially with CaO and that SO3 is involved in the sulphation process to a lesser degree. The SO3 emissions were found to be affected by excess air, whereas the fluidizing velocity and bed temperature had little effect. SO3 was depressed on the addition of limestone during both the staged and unstaged operations, and the extent of the reduction was higher under staged combustion.
Bounds for the Largest Laplacian Eigenvalue of Weighted Graphs
Authors: Sorgun Sezer
Published: May 2013

Let be weighted graphs, as the graphs where the edge weights
are positive definite matrices. The Laplacian eigenvalues of a graph are the
eigenvalues of Laplacian matrix of a graph . We obtain two upper bounds
for the largest Laplacian eigenvalue of weighted graphs and we compare these
bounds with previously known bounds.
Naïve Bayes Classifier with Feature Selection to Identify Phage Virion Proteins
Authors: Feng Peng-Mian , Ding Hui , Chen Wei , Lin Hao
Published: May 2013

Knowledge about the protein composition of phage virions is a key step to understand the functions of phage virion proteins. However, the experimental method to identify virion proteins is time consuming and expensive. Thus, it is highly desirable to develop novel computational methods for phage virion protein identification. In this study, a Naïve Bayes based method was proposed to predict phage virion proteins using amino acid composition and dipeptide composition. In order to remove redundant information, a novel feature selection technique was employed to single out optimized features. In the jackknife test, the proposed method achieved an accuracy of 79.15% for phage virion and nonvirion proteins classification, which are superior to that of other state-of-the-art classifiers. These results indicate that the proposed method could be as an effective and promising high-throughput method in phage proteomics research.
Analysis of Mixed Elliptic and Parabolic Boundary Layers with Corners
Authors: Gie Gung-Min , Jung Chang-Yeol , Temam Roger
Published: May 2013

We study the asymptotic behavior at small diffusivity of the solutions,uε, to a convection-diffusion equation in a rectangular domainΩ. The diffusive equation is supplemented with a Dirichlet boundary condition, which is smooth along the edges and continuous at the corners. To resolve the discrepancy, on∂Ω, betweenuεand the corresponding limit solution,u0, we propose asymptotic expansions ofuεat any arbitrary, but fixed, order. In order to manage some singular effects near the four corners ofΩ, the so-called elliptic and ordinary corner correctors are added in the asymptotic expansions as well as the parabolic and classical boundary layer functions. Then, performing the energy estimates on the difference ofuεand the proposed expansions, the validity of our asymptotic expansions is established in suitable Sobolev spaces.
Management of Thyroid Peroxidase Antibody Euthyroid Women in Pregnancy: Comparison of the American Thyroid Association and the Endocrine Society Guidelines
Authors: Mehran L. , Tohidi M. , Sarvghadi F. , Delshad H. , Amouzegar A. , Soldin O. P. , Azizi F.
Published: May 2013

The presence of thyroid autoantibodies is relatively high in women of childbearing age. There is evidence that positive thyroperoxidase antibody even in euthyroid women may increase the risk of spontaneous and recurrent pregnancy loss and preterm delivery. However, the evidence is not enough to justify recommendation on the screening of pregnant women for thyroid autoantibodies or LT4 supplementation for reducing maternal or fetal complications. In this paper we reviewed the related evidence and compared the new guidelines of the American Thyroid Association and Endocrine Society with respect to the screening and management of positive thyroperoxidase antibody in euthyroid pregnant women. As there was no major contradiction or disagreement between the two guidelines, either one of two guidelines may be used by clinicians for the appropriate management of thyroid autoimmunity during pregnancy.
New Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation Method: Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation Plus Thymus Transplantation for Intractable Diseases
Authors: Hosaka Naoki
Published: May 2013

Although allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) has become a valuable strategy for some intractable diseases, a number of problems remain to be resolved. We have developed a new HSCT method, HSCT + thymus transplantation (TT) from the same donor, which induces elevated T cell function with mild graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) in comparison to conventional HSCT alone and HSCT + donor lymphocyte infusion (HSCT + DLI). This new method is effective in the treatment of several intractable diseases and conditions, such as autoimmune diseases in aging, advanced malignant tumors, exposure to supralethal irradiation, multiple organ transplantation from different donors, and type 2 diabetes mellitus, for which conventional methods are ineffective. Our findings suggest that allo-HSCT + TT is preferable to conventional allo-HSCT alone or allo-HSCT + DLI. This method may become a valuable next-generation HSCT technique.
Nontraumatic Massive Spontaneous Hemothorax with Concomitant Warfarin Use
Authors: Doğan Nurettin Özgür , Pamukçu Günaydın Gül , Tekin Mustafa , Çevik Yunsur
Published: May 2013

Hemorrhagic complications due to warfarin use are frequently seen in emergency departments. However, nontraumatic massive hemothorax is an unexpected complication. We report a 59-year-old woman with warfarin overdose, who had massive hemothorax in right lung without any history of trauma. Her main complaint was significant dyspnea, which has gradually increased in three days. On her physical examination, she was tachypneic and had decreased lung sounds on her right hemithorax. She took warfarin regularly for aortic and mitral valve replacement for 18 years. Her INR level was 12.9 (0.8–1.2). Computed tomography of thorax revealed massive hemothorax with mediastinal shift. Fresh frozen plasma infusion was started immediately. Tube thoracostomy was performed for reexpansion of right lung and 2000 cc blood was drained in 5 minutes. Although hemorrhagic complications can be expected in warfarin therapy, thoracic hemorrhage related to warfarin therapy is relatively rare (3% of all hemorrhagic complications due to warfarin therapy). To our knowledge, massive hemothorax due to warfarin use is an extremely rare condition.
An Elastoplastic Damage Constitutive Model for Cementitious Materials under Wet-Dry Cyclic Sulfate Attack
Authors: Chen Da , Du Chen , Feng Xingguo , Ouyang Feng
Published: May 2013

The mechanical properties of cement mortars subjected to wet-dry cyclic sulfate attack were studied by the compression strength test. The results showed that the ultimate compressive strength increased with number of cycles at the initial stage. However, after a certain time, it started to decrease with further increases in the number of cycles. Moreover, the concentration of the sodium sulfate solution proved to be an important factor affecting the ultimate compressive strength. Based on continuum damage mechanics theory, an elastoplastic damage constitutive model is presented to describe the mechanical behavior of cementitious materials under compressive stress. The results obtained agree well with the experimentally observed elastic, plastic, and damage characteristics of cement mortars under compressive stress.
Thermal Diffusion and Diffusion Thermo Effects on the Viscous Fluid Flow with Heat and Mass Transfer through Porous Medium over a Shrinking Sheet
Authors: Eldabe Nabil , Abu Zeid Mahmoud
Published: May 2013

The motion of the viscous, incompressible fluid through a porous medium with heat and mass transfer over a shrinking sheet is investigated. The cross-diffusion effect between temperature and concentration is considered. This phenomenon is modulated mathematically by a set of partial differential equations which govern the continuity, momentum, heat, and mass. These equations are transformed to a set of ordinary differential equations by using similarity solutions. The analytical solutions of these equations are obtained. The velocity, temperature, and concentration of the fluid as well as the heat and mass transfer with shear stress at the sheet are obtained as a function of the physical parameters of the problem. The effects of Prandtl number, mass transfer parameter, the wall shrinking parameter, the permeability parameter, and Dufour and Soret numbers on temperature and concentration are studied. Also, the effects of mass transfer parameter, permeability parameter, and shrinking strength on the velocity and shear stress are discussed. These effects are illustrated graphically through a set of figures.
Using Objective Clustering for Solving Many-Objective Optimization Problems
Authors: Guo Xiaofang , Wang Yuping , Wang Xiaoli
Published: May 2013

Many-objective optimization problems involving a large number (more than four) of objectives have attracted considerable attention from the evolutionary multiobjective optimization field recently. With the increasing number of objectives, many-objective optimization problems may lead to stagnation in search process, high computational cost, increased dimensionality of Pareto-optimal front, and difficult visualization of the objective space. In this paper, a special kind of many-objective problems which has redundant objectives and which can be degenerated to a lower dimensional Pareto-optimal front has been investigated. Different from the works in the previous literatures, a novel metric, interdependence coefficient, which represents the nonlinear relationship between pairs of objectives, is introduced in this paper. In order to remove redundant objectives, PAM clustering algorithm is employed to identify redundant objectives by merging the less conflict objectives into the same cluster, and one of the least conflict objectives is removed. Furthermore, the potential of the proposed algorithm is demonstrated by a set of benchmark test problems scaled up to 20 objectives and a practical engineering design problem.
A Low-Complexity Decision Feedforward Equalizer Architecture for High-Speed Receivers on Highly Dispersive Channels
Authors: Pola Ariel L. , Cousseau Juan E. , Agazzi Oscar E. , Hueda Mario R.
Published: May 2013

This paper presents an improved decision feedforward equalizer (DFFE) for high speed receivers in the presence of highly dispersive channels. This decision-aided equalizer technique has been recently proposed for multigigabit communication receivers, where the use of parallel processing is mandatory. Well-known parallel architectures for the typical decision feedback equalizer (DFE) have a complexity that grows exponentially with the channel memory. Instead, the new DFFE avoids that exponential increase in complexity by using tentative decisions to cancel iteratively the intersymbol interference (ISI). Here, we demostrate that the DFFE not only allows to obtain a similar performance to the typical DFE but it also reduces the compelxity in channels with large memory. Additionally, we propose a theoretical approximation for the error probability in each iteration. In fact, when the number of iteration increases, the error probability in the DFFE tends to approach the DFE. These benefits make the DFFE an excellent choice for the next generation of high-speed receivers.
Data Storage Scheme Supporting for Multidimensional Query
Authors: Mao Keji , Zhao Xiaomin , Shao Qike , He Wenxiu , Ou Yanqiang , Chen Qingzhang
Published: May 2013

The query and storage of data is very important in wireless sensor networks (WSN). It is mainly used to solve how to effectively manage the distributed data in the monitored area with extremely limited resources. Recent advances in technology have made the number of the sensing modules in one sensor develop from single to multiple. The existing storage scheme for one-dimensional data is not suitable for the multidimensional data or costs too much energy. We proposed a kind of data storage scheme supporting multidimensional query inspired by K-D tree. The scheme can effectively store the high-dimensional similar data to the same piece of two-dimensional area. It can quickly fix the storage area of the event by analyzing the query condition and then fetch back the query result. Meanwhile the scheme has a certain degree of robustness to packet loss and node failure. Finally the experiment on the platform of Matlab showed that our scheme has some advantages compared with the existing methods.
4-Hydroxyhexenal- and 4-Hydroxynonenal-Modified Proteins in Pterygia
Authors: Sano Ichiya , Kaidzu Sachiko , Tanito Masaki , Hara Katsunori , Okuno Tsutomu , Ohira Akihiro
Published: May 2013

Oxidative stress has been suspected of contributing to the pathogenesis of pterygia. We evaluated the immunohistochemical localization of the markers of oxidative stress, that is, the proteins modified by 4-hydroxyhexenal (4-HHE) and 4-hydroxynonenal (4-HNE), which are reactive aldehydes derived from nonenzymatic oxidation of n-3 and n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids, respectively. In the pterygial head, labeling of 4-HHE- and 4-HNE-modified proteins was prominent in the nuclei and cytosol of the epithelium. In the pterygial body, strong labeling was observed in the nuclei and cytosol of the epithelium and proliferating subepithelial connective tissue. In normal conjunctival specimens, only trace immunoreactivity of both proteins was observed in the epithelial and stromal layers. Exposures of ultraviolet (330 nm,48.32 ± 0.55 J/cm2) or blue light (400 nm,293.0 ± 2.0 J/cm2) to rat eyes enhanced labeling of 4-HHE- and 4-HNE-modified proteins in the nuclei of conjunctival epithelium. Protein modifications by biologically active aldehydes are a molecular event involved in the development of pterygia.
The Solutions of Mixed Monotone Fredholm-Type Integral Equations in Banach Spaces
Authors: Su Hua
Published: May 2013

By introducing new definitions ofϕconvex and-φconcave quasioperator andv0quasilower andu0quasiupper, by means of the monotone iterative techniques without any compactness conditions, we obtain the iterative unique solution of nonlinear mixed monotone Fredholm-type integral equations in Banach spaces. Our results are even new toϕconvex and-φconcave quasi operator, and then we apply these results to the two-point boundary value problem of second-order nonlinear ordinary differential equations in the ordered Banach spaces.
A Case Report of Congenital Fiber Type Disproportion with an Increased Level of Anti-ACh Receptor Antibodies
Authors: Kimura Shigemi , Ozasa Shiro , Nomura Keiko , Kosuge Hirofumi , Yoshioka Kowasi
Published: May 2013

Congenital fiber type disproportion (CFTD) is a form of congenital myopathy, which is defined by type 1 myofibers that are 12% smaller than type 2 myofibers, as well as a general predominance of type 1 myofibers. Conversely, myasthenia gravis (MG) is an acquired immune-mediated disease, in which the acetylcholine receptor (AChR) of the neuromuscular junction is blocked by antibodies. Thus, the anti-AChR antibody is nearly specific to MG. Herein, we report on a case of CFTD with increased anti-AChR antibody levels. A 23-month-old boy exhibited muscle hypotonia and weakness. Although he could walk by himself, he easily fell down and could not control his head for a long time. His blood test was positive for the anti-AChR antibody, while a muscle biopsy revealed characteristics of CFTD. We could not explain the relationship between MG and CFTD. However, we considered different diagnoses aside from MG, even when the patient’s blood is positive for the anti-AChR antibody.
Hepatic Artery Mycotic Aneurysm Associated with Staphylococcal Endocarditis with Successful Treatment: Case Report with Review of the Literature
Authors: Chaudhari Dhara , Saleem Atif , Patel Pranav , Khan Sara , Young Mark , LeSage Gene
Published: May 2013

Mycotic hepatic artery aneurysm is a vascular pathology associated with bacterial endocarditis. It is rare in occurrence after the introduction of effective antibiotics. We present a young patient with injection drug abuse associated staphylococcal endocarditis which was successfully treated with antibiotics and valve replacement who presented with abdominal pain. He was found to have mycotic aneurysm of hepatic artery which was successfully treated with coil embolization.
MRI-Guided Focused Ultrasound as a New Method of Drug Delivery
Authors: Thanou M. , Gedroyc W.
Published: May 2013

Ultrasound-mediated drug delivery under the guidance of an imaging modality can improve drug disposition and achieve site-specific drug delivery. The term focal drug delivery has been introduced to describe the focal targeting of drugs in tissues with the help of imaging and focused ultrasound. Focal drug delivery aims to improve the therapeutic profile of drugs by improving their specificity and their permeation in defined areas. Focused-ultrasound- (FUS-) mediated drug delivery has been applied with various molecules to improve their local distribution in tissues. FUS is applied with the aid of microbubbles to enhance the permeability of bioactive molecules across BBB and improve drug distribution in the brain. Recently, FUS has been utilised in combination with MRI-labelled liposomes that respond to temperature increase. This strategy aims to “activate” nanoparticles to release their cargo locally when triggered by hyperthermia induced by FUS. MRI-guided FUS drug delivery provides the opportunity to improve drug bioavailability locally and therefore improve the therapeutic profiles of drugs. This drug delivery strategy can be directly translated to clinic as MRg FUS is a promising clinically therapeutic approach. However, more basic research is required to understand the physiological mechanism of FUS-enhanced drug delivery.
Overview of Ionic Liquids Used as Working Fluids in Absorption Cycles
Authors: Khamooshi Mehrdad , Parham Kiyan , Atikol Ugur
Published: May 2013

The cycle performance of refrigeration cycles depends not only on their configuration, but also on thermodynamic properties of working pairs regularly composed of refrigerant and absorbent. The commonly used working pairs in absorption cycles are aqueous solutions of either lithium bromide water or ammonia water. However, corrosion, crystallization, high working pressure, and toxicity are their major disadvantages in industrial applications. Therefore, seeking more advantageous working pairs with good thermal stability, with minimum corrosion, and without crystallization has become the research focus in the past two decades. Ionic liquids (ILs) are room-temperature melting salts that can remain in the liquid state at near or below room temperature. ILs have attracted considerable attention due to their unique properties, such as negligible vapor pressure, nonflammability, thermal stability, good solubility, low melting points, and staying in the liquid state over a wide temperature range from room temperature to about 300°C. The previously mentioned highly favorable properties of ILs motivated us for carrying out the present research and reviewing the available ILs found in the literature as the working fluids of absorption cycles. Absorption cycles contain absorption heat pumps, absorption chillers, and absorption transformers.
What Is New in the Understanding of Non Healing Wounds Epidemiology, Pathophysiology, and Therapies
Authors: Trøstrup H. , Bjarnsholt T. , Kirketerp-Møller K. , Høiby N. , Moser C.
Published: May 2013

Chronic wounds are a growing socioeconomic problem in the western world. Knowledge on recalcitrant wounds relies onin vitrostudies or clinical observations, and there is emerging evidence on the clinical impact of bacterial biofilm on skin healing. Chronic wounds are locked in the inflammatory state of wound healing, and there are multiple explanations for this arrest with the theory of exaggerated proteolysis as the most commonly accepted. Previously, there has not been enough focus on the different etiologies of chronic wounds compared to acute, healing wounds. There is an urgent need to group chronic wounds by its cause when searching for possible diagnostic or therapeutic targets. Good wound management should therefore consist of recognition of basic wound etiology, irrigation, and debridement in order to reduce microbial and necrotic load, frequently changed dressings, and appropriate antimicrobial and antibiofilm strategies based on precise diagnosis. Representative sampling is required for diagnosis and antimicrobial treatment of wounds. The present review aims at describing the impact of biofilm infections on wounds in relation to diagnosing, treatment strategies, including experimentally adjuvant approaches and animal models.
Solvothermal Synthesis of TiO2 Photocatalysts in Ketone Solvents with Low Boiling Points
Authors: Nam Chau Thanh , Yang Wein-Duo , Duc Le Minh
Published: May 2013

The titanium dioxide (TiO2) photocatalysts were synthesized by a solvothermal process in highly alkaline 70 : 30 water : ketone solutions with a TiO2‐P25 precursor and calcined at different temperatures. The ketone solvents, such as acetone and methyl ethyl ketone (MEK), had low boiling points (<100°C). The as‐prepared samples were characterized by XRD, TEM, FTIR, UV‐vis and Raman spectroscopy. The effects of the different solvents on the nanostructure, the morphology, and the photocatalytic performance of the TiO2 products were investigated. Nanotubes formed in water and water‐MEK, while nanoparticle/nanowires formed in water‐acetone and water‐acetone‐MEK. The ketone solvents played an important role in the improving nanostructure properties of these products, which affected their photocatalytic reactions. The results indicated that samples synthesized in solvents such as water and MEK had high adsorption and photocatalytic behaviors. The photocatalytic reactivity was the greatest for the TiO2 prepared in MEK and calcined at 100°C, which was even more reactive than the sample prepared in water and TiO2‐P25 powder.
Holistic Connectivity Controller for Multirobot Dispersion
Authors: Mi Zhenqiang , Yang Yang , Sun Jiajia
Published: May 2013

Dispersion of mobile robots in a certain formation is prerequisite in many applications; one of the most important issues during the entire process is to maintain the interagent connections, as well as to restore them whenever they were broken. We investigate the aforementioned problem in this work by designing a holistic connectivity controller (HCC) to regulate and restore the interagent connections during the dispersion of the mobile network. HCC consists of two core structures. Firstly, to illustrate the multirobot dispersion, we adopt the distributed link removal algorithm (DLRA), which is able to remove redundant links in the multirobot network to facilitate the dispersion and only requires local information of no more than two-hop neighbors. Secondly, the proposed approach is extended to the problem of connectivity restoration with consideration of simultaneous failure of multiple agents. A connectivity restoration strategy is proposed, and then the recoverability of network connectivity is investigated. The proposed HCC has also integrated motion controller to regulate the movement of the mobile robots, so that interrobot collisions can be effectively avoided. Theoretical analysis and computer simulations have confirmed the efficiency and scalability of the proposed schemes.
Prevalence and Characteristics of Abuse Experiences and Depression Symptoms among Injection Drug-Using Female Sex Workers in Mexico
Authors: Ulibarri Monica D. , Hiller Sarah P. , Lozada Remedios , Rangel M. Gudelia , Stockman Jamila K. , Silverman Jay G. , Ojeda Victoria D.
Published: May 2013

This mixed methods study examined the prevalence and characteristics of physical and sexual abuse and depression symptoms among 624 injection drug-using female sex workers (FSW-IDUs) in Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico; a subset of 47 from Tijuana also underwent qualitative interviews. Linear regressions identified correlates of current depression symptoms. In the interviews, FSW-IDUs identified drug use as a method of coping with the trauma they experienced from abuse that occurred before and after age 18 and during the course of sex work. In a multivariate linear regression model, two factors—ever experiencing forced sex and forced sex in the context of sex work—were significantly associated with higher levels of depression symptoms. Our findings suggest the need for integrated mental health and drug abuse services for FSW-IDUs addressing history of trauma as well as for further research on violence revictimization in the context of sex work in Mexico.
Natural Compounds as Regulators of the Cancer Cell Metabolism
Authors: Cerella Claudia , Radogna Flavia , Dicato Mario , Diederich Marc
Published: May 2013

Even though altered metabolism is an “old” physiological mechanism, only recently its targeting became a therapeutically interesting strategy and by now it is considered an emerging hallmark of cancer. Nevertheless, a very poor number of compounds are under investigation as potential modulators of cell metabolism. Candidate agents should display selectivity of action towards cancer cells without side effects. This ideal favorable profile would perfectly overlap the requisites of new anticancer therapies and chemopreventive strategies as well. Nature represents a still largely unexplored source of bioactive molecules with a therapeutic potential. Many of these compounds have already been characterized for their multiple anticancer activities. Many of them are absorbed with the diet and therefore possess a known profile in terms of tolerability and bioavailability compared to newly synthetized chemical compounds. The discovery of important cross-talks between mediators of the most therapeutically targeted aberrancies in cancer (i.e., cell proliferation, survival, and migration) and the metabolic machinery allows to predict the possibility that many anticancer activities ascribed to a number of natural compounds may be due, in part, to their ability of modulating metabolic pathways. In this review, we attempt an overview of what is currently known about the potential of natural compounds as modulators of cancer cell metabolism.
Ventricular Pneumocephalus with Meningitis after Lumbar Nerve Root Block
Authors: Ahn Shin , Ko Young Sang , Lim Kyung Soo
Published: May 2013

Lumbar nerve root block is a common modality used in the management of radiculopathy. Its complications are rare and usually minor. Despite its low morbidity, significant acute events can occur. Pneumocephalus is an accumulation of air in the intracranial space. It indicates a violation of the dura or the presence of infection. The object of this report is to describe the case of a patient with intraventricular pneumocephalus and bacterial meningitis after lumbar nerve root block. A 70-year-old female was brought into emergency department with severe headache and vomiting which developed during her sleep. She had received lumbar nerve block for her radiculopathy one day before her presentation. Cranial computed tomography scan revealed a few hypodense lesions in her left lateral ventricle frontal horn and basal cistern indicating ventricular pneumocephalus. Five hours later, she developed sudden hearing loss. Cerebrospinal fluid analysis showed bacterial meningitis, and she was treated with high dose steroid and antibiotics. However, her impaired hearing as a sequela from meningitis was persistent, and she is still in follow-up. Intracranial complications of lumbar nerve root block including meningitis and pneumocephalus can occur and should be considered as high-risk conditions that require prompt intervention.
A Mixed L2 Norm Regularized HRF Estimation Method for Rapid Event-Related fMRI Experiments
Authors: Lei Yu , Tong Li , Yan Bin
Published: May 2013

Brain state decoding or “mind reading” via multivoxel pattern analysis (MVPA) has become a popular focus of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies. In brain decoding, stimulus presentation rate is increased as fast as possible to collect many training samples and obtain an effective and reliable classifier or computational model. However, for extremely rapid event-related experiments, the blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signals evoked by adjacent trials are heavily overlapped in the time domain. Thus, identifying trial-specific BOLD responses is difficult. In addition, voxel-specific hemodynamic response function (HRF), which is useful in MVPA, should be used in estimation to decrease the loss of weak information across voxels and obtain fine-grained spatial information. Regularization methods have been widely used to increase the efficiency of HRF estimates. In this study, we propose a regularization framework called mixed L2 norm regularization. This framework involves Tikhonov regularization and an additional L2 norm regularization term to calculate reliable HRF estimates. This technique improves the accuracy of HRF estimates and significantly increases the classification accuracy of the brain decoding task when applied to a rapid event-related four-category object classification experiment. At last, some essential issues such as the impact of low-frequency fluctuation (LFF) and the influence of smoothing are discussed for rapid event-related experiments.
Simultaneous Detection of Group A Rotavirus in Swine and Rat on a Pig Farm in Brazil
Authors: Tonietti Paloma de Oliveira , da Hora Aline Santana , Silva Fernanda Dornellas F. , Ferrari Karen Linares , Brandão Paulo Eduardo , Richtzenhain Leonardo José , Gregori Fabio
Published: May 2013

This study investigated the occurrence of rotavirus in porcine and Rattus norvegicus, at the same time, on a pig farm in the city of Jaguariúna, São Paulo, Brazil. Swine (n = 21) and rat (n = 6) fecal samples were analyzed by nested RT‐PCR assay. Rotavirus occurred in seven porcine and two rat samples. A total of three pig and one rat samples were further submitted to genetic sequencing. The partial NSP5 gene phylogeny showed that all strains were segregated in the genotype H1. These results point toward a cross‐species transmission between rats and pigs on the surveyed farm and represent the first detection of rotavirus in Rattus norvegicus in Brazil.
A Framework to Reconcile Green Goals with Budget Reality
Authors: Mosier Rachel , Gransberg Douglas D.
Published: May 2013

A public agency that decides to implement green design and construction features in its capital improvement program is actually adding an undetermined incremental cost to the initial cost of public buildings. Past research has portrayed these costs as a percentage increase, essentially creating an overall contingency for green buildings, but no work has been done to quantify the incremental cost on a building's actual design program that can be assigned directly to the project budget. This research sought to provide an objective approach to estimating sustainable design and proposes a framework for estimating the initial capital costs of sustainable building design and construction as measured by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification program. The framework allows tracking of costs during design and can be utilized for estimating future projects. The framework is developed using case study analysis of green building projects in OK City, Oklahoma. The paper concludes that the cost of “going green” can be estimated as a unit price basis as a cost per LEED credit. The proposed framework can be used by any public agency to determine the additional cost of LEED certification and for budgeting future projects.
Environ-Economic Synthesis and Characterization of Some New 1,2,4-Triazole Derivatives as Organic Fluorescent Materials and Potent Fungicidal Agents
Authors: Sachdeva Harshita , Saroj Rekha , Khaturia Sarita , Dwivedi Diksha
Published: May 2013

A multicomponent one-pot clean cyclocondensation reaction of 4-chloro-2-nitro aniline/amino acids and aromatic aldehydes/indole-2,3-diones with thiosemicarbazide in water yielding triazole/spiro indole-triazole derivatives in high yields and shorter reaction time and displaying excellent florescent property is reported. The developed MCR may provide a valuable practical tool for the synthesis of new drugs containing the title core fragment. All the newly synthesized compounds have been characterized by IR, 1HNMR, 13CNMR, and fluorescence study and also been screened for antimicrobial activity.
Demyelinating Disease following Anti-TNFa Treatment: A Causal or Coincidental Association? Report of Four Cases and Review of the Literature
Authors: Andreadou E. , Kemanetzoglou E. , Brokalaki Ch. , Evangelopoulos M. E. , Kilidireas C. , Rombos A. , Stamboulis E.
Published: May 2013

Tumor necrosis factor antagonists (anti-TNFa) are an established therapeutic option for several autoimmune and inflammatory bowel diseases. Despite their clinical effectiveness, neurological adverse events have been reported and literature data suggest a potential role of anti-TNFa in the induction of demyelination of the CNS. We present four patients treated with anti-TNFa who developed symptoms suggestive of CNS demyelination. The first patient, a 17-year-old male who received etanercept for psoriatic arthritis for eight months, presented with dysesthesias up to T4 level. The second patient, a 30-year-old male treated with adalimumab for three years due to ankylosing spondylitis, presented with right unilateral tinnitus. The third case, a 47-year-old female, received etanercept for four years because of psoriatic arthritis and developed persistent headache and left-sided face and head numbness. Finally, the fourth patient, a 57-years-old female treated with etanercept for six years due to ankylosing spondylitis, presented with difficulty in speech, swallowing, and ptosis of the right corner of the mouth. In all cases, brain MRI showed lesions suggestive of demyelination, while positive oligoclonal bands were detected in the CSF. Anti-TNFa treatments were discontinued and patients showed clinical improvement with pulsed intravenous corticosteroid therapy. CNS demyelination following anti-TNFa treatment represents a relatively rare but potential serious complication. Close follow-up and MRI monitoring of these patients is mandatory to elucidate whether the clinical manifestations represent adverse events occurring during anti-TNFa therapy or a first demyelinating episode.
Glioma Stem Cells and Immunotherapy for the Treatment of Malignant Gliomas
Authors: Toda Masahiro
Published: May 2013

Stem cell research has led to the discovery of glioma stem cells (GSCs), and because these cells are resistant to chemotherapy and radiotherapy, analysis of their properties has been rapidly pursued for targeted treatment of malignant glioma. Recent studies have also revealed complex crosstalk between GSCs and their specialized environment (niche). Therefore, targeting not only GSCs but also their niche may be a principle for novel therapies of malignant glioma. One possible novel strategy for targeting GSCs and their niches is immunotherapy with different antitumor mechanism(s) from those of conventional therapy. Recent clinical studies of immunotherapy using peptide vaccines and antibodies have shown promising results. This review describes the recent findings related to GSCs and their niches, as well as immunotherapies for glioma, followed by discussion of immunotherapies that target GSCs for the treatment of malignant glioma.
Atherogenesis May Involve the Prooxidant and Proinflammatory Effects of Ferryl Hemoglobin
Authors: Potor László , Bányai Emese , Becs Gergely , Soares Miguel P. , Balla György , Balla József , Jeney Viktória
Published: May 2013

Oxidized cell-free hemoglobin (Hb), including covalently cross-linked Hb multimers, is present in advanced atherosclerotic lesions. Oxidation of Hb produces methemoglobin (Fe3+) and ferryl hemoglobin (Fe4+=O2−). Ferryl iron is unstable and can return to theFe3+state by reacting with specific amino acids of the globin chains. In these reactions globin radicals are produced followed by termination reactions yielding covalently cross-linked Hb multimers. Despite the evanescent nature of the ferryl state, herein we refer to this oxidized Hb as “ferryl Hb.” Our aim in this work was to study formation and biological effects of ferrylHb. We demonstrate that ferrylHb, like metHb, can release its heme group, leading to sensitization of endothelial cells (ECs) to oxidant-mediated killing and to oxidation of low-density lipoprotein (LDL). Furthermore, we observed that both oxidized LDL and lipids derived from human atherosclerotic lesions trigger Hb oxidation and subsequent production of covalently cross-linked ferrylHb multimers. Previously we showed that ferrylHb disrupts EC monolayer integrity and induces expression of inflammatory cell adhesion molecules. Here we show that when exposed to ferrylHb, EC monolayers exhibit increased permeability and enhanced monocyte adhesion. Taken together, interactions between cell-free Hb and atheroma lipids engage in a vicious cycle, amplifying oxidation of plaque lipids and Hb. These processes trigger EC activation and cytotoxicity.
Neuroprotective Function of DJ-1 in Parkinson’s Disease
Authors: Ariga Hiroyoshi , Takahashi-Niki Kazuko , Kato Izumi , Maita Hiroshi , Niki Takeshi , Iguchi-Ariga Sanae M. M.
Published: May 2013

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is caused by dopaminergic neuronal death in the substantia nigra, resulting in a reduced level of dopamine in the striatum. Oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction are thought to be major causes of neurodegeneration in PD. Although genetic and environmental factors are thought to affect the onset of PD, precise mechanisms at the molecular level have not been elucidated. TheDJ-1 geneis a causative gene for familial PD (park7) and also an oncogene. DJ-1 has various functions, including transcriptional regulation, antioxidative stress reaction, and chaperone, protease, and mitochondrial regulation, and its activity is regulated by its oxidative status, especially that of cysteine 106 (C106) of DJ-1. Excess oxidation of DJ-1, which renders DJ-1 inactive, has been observed in patients with sporadic PD and Alzheimer’s disease, suggesting that DJ-1 also participates in the onset and pathogenesis of sporadic PD as well as familial PD. DJ-1 is also a stress sensor and its expression is increased upon various stresses, including oxidative stress. In this review, we describe functions of DJ-1 against oxidative stress and possible roles of DJ-1 in the pathogenesis of PD.
Application of Self-Organizing Artificial Neural Networks on Simulated Diffusion Tensor Images
Authors: Göksel-Duru Dilek , Özkan Mehmed
Published: May 2013

Diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging (DTMRI) as a noninvasive modality providing in vivo anatomical information allows determination of fiber connections which leads to brain mapping. The success of DTMRI is very much algorithm dependent, and its verification is of great importance due to limited availability of a gold standard in the literature. In this study, unsupervised artificial neural network class, namely, self-organizing maps, is employed to discover the underlying fiber tracts. A common artificial diffusion tensor resource, named “phantom images for simulating tractography errors” (PISTE), is used for the accuracy verification and acceptability of the proposed approach. Four different tract geometries with varying SNRs and fractional anisotropy are investigated. The proposed method, SOFMAT, is able to define the predetermined fiber paths successfully with a standard deviation of (0.8–1.9) × 10−3depending on the trajectory and the SNR value selected. The results illustrate the capability of SOFMAT to reconstruct complex fiber tract configurations. The ability of SOFMAT to detect fiber paths in low anisotropy regions, which physiologically may correspond to either grey matter or pathology (abnormality) and uncertainty areas in real data, is an advantage of the method for future studies.
Delay-Dependent Fuzzy Control of Networked Control Systems and Its Application
Authors: Li Hongbo , Sun Fuchun , Sun Zengqi
Published: May 2013

This paper is concerned with the state feedback stabilization problem for a class of Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy networked control systems (NCSs) with random time delays. A delay-dependent fuzzy networked controller is constructed, where the control parameters are ndependent on both sensor-to-controller delay and controller-to-actuator delay simultaneously. The resulting NCS is transformed into a discrete-time fuzzy switched system, and under this framework, the stability conditions of the closed-loop NCS are derived by defining a multiple delay-dependent Lyapunov function. Based on the derived stability conditions, the stabilizing fuzzy networked controller design method is also provided. Finally, simulation results are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the obtained results.
Fucoidan Inhibits the Growth of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Independent of Angiogenesis
Authors: Zhu Cong , Cao Rui , Zhang Shuang-Xia , Man Ya-Nan , Wu Xiong-Zhi
Published: May 2013

Some sulphated polysaccharides can bind bFGF but are unable to present bFGF to its high-affinity receptors. Fucoidan, a sulphated polysaccharide purified from brown algae, which has been used as an anticancer drug in traditional Chinese medicine for hundreds of years, exhibits a variety of anticancer effects, including the induction of the apoptosis and autophagy of cancer cells, the inhibition of the growth of cancer cells, the induction of angiogenesis, and the improvement of antitumour immunity. Our research shows that fucoidan dose not inhibit the expressions of VEGF, bFGF, IL-8, and heparanase in HCC cells and/or tumour tissues. Moreover, fucoidan exhibited low affinity for bFGF and could not block the binding of bFGF to heparan sulphated. Although fucoidan had no effect on angiogenesis and apoptosisin vivo, this drug significantly inhibited the tumour growth and the expression of PCNA. These results suggest that fucoidan exhibits an anticancer effectin vivoat least partly through inhibition of the proliferation of HCC cells, although it is unable to suppress the angiogenesis induced by HCC.