bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Antimicrobial activity of selected plant species of Genera arbutus l., Bruckenthalia rchb., Calluna salisb. and Erica l. (Ericaceae)
Authors: Pavlović Dragana , Lakušić Branislava , Kitić Dušanka , Milutinović Milica , Kostić Milica , Miladinović Bojana , Kovačević Nada 
Published: March 2014

SUMMARY
Uvae ursi folium (Arctostaphylos uva ursi, Ericaceae) is the best known and most widely used herbal urinary antiseptic. In traditional medicine, other Ericaceae species are also used for the treatment of urinary tract infections. The present study investigates antimicrobial activity of five species of Ericaceae family native to the Balkan Peninsula: Arbutus unedo, Bruckenthalia spiculifolia, Calluna vulgaris, Erica arborea and Erica carnea.
Ethanolic extracts were tested against 10 different gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria by the disc diffusion technique, where standard tetracycline, streptomycin and penicillin discs and discs containing crystal violet (1 mg/ml) and solvent (70.0% v/v ethanol) were used as controls.
The most prominent antibacterial effect was achieved on Staphylococcus aureus with extracts of Calluna vulgaris and Erica carnea. Tested samples showed no activity against the gram-negative strains Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae. Inhibitory effects on the growth of gram-positive bacteria were more potent. The exception is Arbutus unedo ethanol extract which exhibited certain activity against a laboratory strain of wild Escherichia coli. Antimicrobial activity of the ethanolic extracts against 10 tested strains of bacteria in disc diffusion assay was generally weak, even for sample in which HPLC determination confirmed the presence of arbutin (secondary metabolite responsible for most of the antibacterial activity of Uvaeursi folium).
A New Application of Almost Increasing Sequences
Authors: Özarslan H.S. , Keten A. 
Published: March 2014

Abstract
Bor has proved a main theorem dealing with | N̄ , pn|k summability factors of infinite series. In this paper, we have generalized this theorem to the φ − |A, pn|k summability factors, under weaker conditions by using an almost increasing sequence instead of a positive monotonic non-decreasing sequence.
Recognition of atherosclerotic plaques and their extended dimensioning with computerized tomography angiography imaging
Authors: Markiewicz Tomasz , Dziekiewicz Mirosław , Maruszyński Marek , Bogusławska-Walecka Romana , Kozłowski Wojciech 
Published: March 2014

Abstract
In this paper the authors raise the issue of automatic discrimination of atherosclerotic plaques within an artery lumen based on numerical and statistical thresholding of Computerized Tomography Angiographic (CTA) images and their advanced dimensioning as a support for preoperative vessel assessment. For the study, a set of tomograms of the aorta, as well as the ilio-femoral and femoral arteries were examined. In each case a sequence of about 130-480 images of the artery cutoff planes were analyzed prior to their segmentation based on morphological image transformation. A crucial step in the staging of atherosclerotic alteration is recognition of the plaque in the CTA image. To solve this problem, statistical and linear fitting methods, including the least-squares approximation by polynomial and spline polynomial functions, as well as the error fitting function were used. Also, new descriptors of atherosclerotic changes, such as the lumen decrease factor, the circumference occupancy factor, and the convex plaque area factor, are proposed as a means of facilitating preoperative vessel examination. Finally, ways to reduce the computational time are discussed. The proposed methods can be very useful for automatic quantification of atherosclerotic changes visualized by CTA imaging.
From the slit-island method to the Ising model: Analysis of irregular grayscale objects
Authors: Mazurek Przemysław , Oszutowsk A-M Ażurek Dorota 
Published: March 2014

Abstract
The Slit Island Method (SIM) is a technique for the estimation of the fractal dimension of an object by determining the area- perimeter relations for successive slits. The SIM could be applied for image analysis of irregular grayscale objects and their classification using the fractal dimension. It is known that this technique is not functional in some cases. It is emphasized in this paper that for specific objects a negative or an infinite fractal dimension could be obtained. The transformation of the input image data from unipolar to bipolar gives a possibility of reformulated image analysis using the Ising model context. The polynomial approximation of the obtained area-perimeter curve allows object classification. The proposed technique is applied to the images of cervical cell nuclei (Papanicolaou smears) for the preclassification of the correct and atypical cells.
Discretization of singular systems and error estimation
Authors: Karampetakis Nicholas P. , Karamichalis Rallis 
Published: March 2014

Abstract
This paper proposes a discretization technique for a descriptor differential system. The methodology used is both triangular first order hold discretization and zero order hold for the input function. Upper bounds for the error between the continuous and the discrete time solution are produced for both discretization methods and are shown to be better than any other existing method in the literature.
Center-based l1–clustering method
Authors: Sabo Kristian 
Published: March 2014

Abstract
In this paper, we consider the l1-clustering problem for a finite data-point set which should be partitioned into k disjoint nonempty subsets. In that case, the objective function does not have to be either convex or differentiable, and generally it may have many local or global minima. Therefore, it becomes a complex global optimization problem. A method of searching for a locally optimal solution is proposed in the paper, the convergence of the corresponding iterative process is proved and the corresponding algorithm is given. The method is illustrated by and compared with some other clustering methods, especially with the l2-clustering method, which is also known in the literature as a smooth k-means method, on a few typical situations, such as the presence of outliers among the data and the clustering of incomplete data. Numerical experiments show in this case that the proposed l1-clustering algorithm is faster and gives significantly better results than the l2-clustering algorithm.
Approximation of phenol concentration using novel hybrid computational intelligence methods
Authors: Plawiak Pawel , Tadeusiewicz Ryszard 
Published: March 2014

Abstract
This paper presents two innovative evolutionary-neural systems based on feed-forward and recurrent neural networks used for quantitative analysis. These systems have been applied for approximation of phenol concentration. Their performance was compared against the conventional methods of artificial intelligence (artificial neural networks, fuzzy logic and genetic algorithms). The proposed systems are a combination of data preprocessing methods, genetic algorithms and the Levenberg-Marquardt (LM) algorithm used for learning feed forward and recurrent neural networks. The initial weights and biases of neural networks chosen by the use of a genetic algorithm are then tuned with an LM algorithm. The evaluation is made on the basis of accuracy and complexity criteria. The main advantage of proposed systems is the elimination of random selection of the network weights and biases, resulting in increased efficiency of the systems.
In Vitro Cellulase Production from Five Herbivore Microbial Ecosystems and Consortia
Authors: Fon Fabian Nde , Nsahlai Ignatius Verla , Scogings Peter Frank , Basha Nasreldin Abdelrahim Dafaalla 
Published: March 2014

Abstract
As the most abundant biomass in nature, cellulose is the main chemical component in herbivore forages. The energy locked in these complex polymers can only be released by cellulolytic enzymes. Therefore, research aiming to increase the expression of cellulolytic enzymes or browsing uncultured microbial ecosystem in search of potential fibrolytic enzymes is imperative. The main objectives were to: (a) investigate the variation of cellulase enzymes in cow (CW), horse (H), miniature horse (mH), wildebeest (WB) and zebra (ZB); and (b) identify their presence and activeness in microbial consortia, N1 (H+WB), N2 (H+ZB), N3 (WB+ZB) and N4 (H+WB+ZB). Fresh faecal or rumen inocula were cultured in the laboratory on maize stover and lucerne (1:1) with salivary buffer for 72 h at 38°C. Crude proteins (CPZ) were precipitated from both fresh and cultured inocula using 60% ammonium sulfate for enzyme assays and zymography. Endocellulases and their activity were identified on 1% (m/v) carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) zymograms stained with Congo red. All CPZ extracts were active as reducing sugars were produced after incubation with crystalline cellulose, CMC and xylan. The number and types of proteins with endocellulase activity varied (P<0.05) among and within the different animal species CW (15), H (14), mH (14), WB (13) and ZB (13). Microbial consortia were active with relatively higher number of endocellulases, N1 (17), N3 (14), N4 (14), and N2 (13). Cellulase enzymes vary among and within herbivore species grazing on the same or different fields. Therefore, identifying specific enzymes and microbes with higher fibrolytic potentials from different ecosystems for transinoculation could play a vital role in improving forage digestibility in ruminants
Effect of Noise Generated by the Wind Turbine on the Quality of Goose Muscles and Abdominal Fat
Authors: Karwowska Małgorzata , Mikołajczak Jan , Borowski Sylwester , Dolatowski Zbigniew Józef , Marć-Pieńkowska Joanna , Budziński Waldemar 
Published: March 2014

Abstract
The objective of this study was to assess the physicochemical properties of breast and thigh muscles and fatty acid composition of abdominal fat of geese reared at a distance of 50 metres from the wind turbine compared to those reared 460 metres from the wind turbine. The study was carried out on 40 Kołuda White® geese (Anser anser f. domestica) divided into two groups: Treatment 1 - reared at a distance of 50 metres and Treatment 2 - reared at a distance of 460 metres from the wind turbine (Vestas V90 wind turbine). The muscles were analysed for pH, thermal loss, shear force, TBARS values and colour parameters (L* a* b*). The fatty acids composition of abdominal fat was also analysed. The results of the present study suggest that noise generated by the wind turbine affected the quality of muscles and the fatty acid profile of abdominal fat of geese. The results showed that the muscles of geese reared at a distance of 50 metres from the wind turbine were characterized by higher pH and TBARS values compared to those reared at a longer distance from the wind turbine. The significantly lower content of C 18:3 n-3 fatty acid in abdominal fat was observed for geese reared 50 metres from the wind turbine. Further studies should be undertaken to establish the safe distance of a wind turbine from livestock buildings
Preliminary Evaluation of the use Value of Jumping Horses Based on Their Results Achieved in Grand Prix Competitions
Authors: Próchniak Tomasz , Rozempolska-Rucińska Iwona , Zięba Grzegorz 
Published: March 2014

Abstract
The aim of the work was preliminary evaluation of predispositions of Polish racehorses to sports. The tests covered 273 horses taking part in CC class and CC1 class competitions in the finals of the big tour. The probability of achieving the best result in the competitions depending on the horse breed was evaluated using multivariate analysis of variance. With the use of Spearman’s rank correlations, the initial correspondence between the horse’s rank in breeders’ ranking and the ranking based on sport results was defined. It was stated that horses starting in Grand Prix competitions represented only 6.85% of all horses registered in the Polish Equestrian Federation. In the group, foreign breeds were predominant. The proportion of native breeds was marginal. The lack of a significant influence of the race on differentiation of sports results of horses proves that the best specimens were chosen within individual races. The preliminary results revealed lack of rank agreement between the evaluation of the breeding value and sports achievements of an individual. This suggests the necessity of performing broader analyses covering different aspects
Study on the influence of stochastic properties of correction terms on the reliability of instantaneous network RTK
Authors: Próchniewicz Dominik 
Published: March 2014

ABSTRACT
The reliability of precision GNSS positioning primarily depends on correct carrier-phase ambiguity resolution. An optimal estimation and correct validation of ambiguities necessitates a proper definition of mathematical positioning model. Of particular importance in the model definition is the taking into account of the atmospheric errors (ionospheric and tropospheric refraction) as well as orbital errors. The use of the network of reference stations in kinematic positioning, known as Network-based Real-Time Kinematic (Network RTK) solution, facilitates the modeling of such errors and their incorporation, in the form of correction terms, into the functional description of positioning model. Lowered accuracy of corrections, especially during atmospheric disturbances, results in the occurrence of unaccounted biases, the so-called residual errors. The taking into account of such errors in Network RTK positioning model is possible by incorporating the accuracy characteristics of the correction terms into the stochastic model of observations. In this paper we investigate the impact of the expansion of the stochastic model to include correction term variances on the reliability of the model solution. In particular the results of instantaneous solution that only utilizes a single epoch of GPS observations, is analyzed. Such a solution mode due to the low number of degrees of freedom is very sensitive to an inappropriate mathematical model definition. Thus the high level of the solution reliability is very difficult to achieve. Numerical tests performed for a test network located in mountain area during ionospheric disturbances allows to verify the described method for the poor measurement conditions. The results of the ambiguity resolution as well as the rover positioning accuracy shows that the proposed method of stochastic modeling can increase the reliability of instantaneous Network RTK performance.
Discrete Fourier transform based pattern classifiers
Authors: Hui S. , Żak S.H. 
Published: March 2014

Abstract
A technique for pattern classification using the Fourier transform combined with the nearest neighbor classifier is proposed. The multidimensional fast Fourier transform (FFT) is applied to the patterns in the data base. Then the magnitudes of the Fourier coefficients are sorted in descending order and the first P coefficients with largest magnitudes are selected, where P is a design parameter. These coefficients are then used in further processing rather than the original patterns. When a noisy pattern is presented for classification, the pattern’s P Fourier coefficients with largest magnitude are extracted. The coefficients are arranged in a vector in the descending order of their magnitudes. The obtained vector is referred to as the signature vector of the corresponding pattern. Then the distance between the signature vector of the pattern to be classified and the signature vectors of the patterns in the data base are computed and the pattern to be classified is matched with a pattern in the data base whose signature vector is closest to the signature vector of the pattern being classified.
Modeling of pneumatic melt drawing of polypropylene super-thin fibers in the Laval nozzle
Authors: Blim A. , Jarecki L. , Blonski S. 
Published: March 2014

Abstract
Melt spinning of the fibers by supersonic air jet in the Laval nozzle is a novel, efficient and energy saving method of formation of super-thin fibers. In the process, polymer melt is extruded from a row of orifices and fast drawn by the pneumatic forces. In the modelling, air velocity, temperature and pressure distributions are computed from the k-! aerodynamic model. Computations of the polymer air-drawing dynamics are based on the mathematical model of melt spinning in a single-, thin-filament approximation and Phan-Thien/Tanner non-linear viscoelasticity of the polymer melt. Axial profiles of the polymer velocity, temperature, tensile stress and rheological extra-pressure are computed. Influence of the Laval nozzle geometry, initial air compression, an initial melt temperature, a polymer mass output and the diameter of the melt extrusion die is discussed. The role of the polymer molecular weight, melt viscosity and relaxation time is considered. Example computations show the influence of important processing and material parameters. In the supersonic process, a high negative internal extra-pressure is predicted in the polymer melt under high elongation rates which may lead to cavitation and longitudinal burst splitting of the filament into a high number of sub-filaments. A hypothetical number of sub-filaments at the splitting is estimated from an energetic criterion. The diameter of the sub-filaments may reach the range of nano-fibers. A substantial influence of the Laval nozzle geometry is also predicted.
The contact-less method of chip-to-chip high speed data transmission monitoring
Authors: Zmuda M. , Szczepański S. , Kozieł S. , Graczyk S. 
Published: March 2014

Abstract
This paper presents a technique of decoupling differential signals transmitted in a pair of microstrip lines on a printed circuit board (PCB), using dedicated coupler for high speed data transmission monitoring in chip-to-chip interconnections. The coupler used for signal probing is overlayed on the pair of microstrip lines under test, and provides a signal to the next blocks of the measurement system without disturbing transmission in the lines. Starting from the basic configuration obtained in the previous work, we describe a procedure of re-designing the coupler for enhanced directivity so that it is suitable for high-speed data transmission monitoring. The new coupler structure has improved topology based on stepped-impedance resonators with geometry parameters adjusted using numerical optimization techniques. The correctness of the design has been confirmed by the time-domain measurements performed for real chip-to-chip communication signals, using a dedicated measurement system based on Xilinx Virtex-6 FPGA Development Kit. The presented technology can be used for reducing the cost of the product diagnostics by eliminating dedicated measurement connectors, run-time system debugging or reverse engineering.
Rotor fault detector of the converter-fed induction motor based on RBF neural network
Authors: Kowalski C.T. , Kaminski M. 
Published: March 2014

Abstract
This paper deals with the application of the Radial Basis Function (RBF) networks for the induction motor fault detection. The rotor faults are analysed and fault symptoms are described. Next the main stages of the design methodology of the RBF-based neural detectors are described. These networks are trained and tested using measurement data of the stator current (MCSA). The efficiency of developed RBF-NN detectors is evaluated. Furthermore, influence of neural networks complexity and parameters of the RBF activation function on the quality of data classification is shown. The presented neural detectors are tested with measurement data obtained in the laboratory setup containing the converter-fed induction motor (IM) and changeable rotors with a different degree of damages
Bulk linearized CMOS differential pair transconductor for continuous-time OTA-C filter design
Authors: Pankiewicz B. , Szczepański S. , Wójcikowski M. 
Published: March 2014

Abstract
In this paper, the MOS differential pair driven simultaneously from gates and bulk terminals is described. An approximated analytical solution of the voltage to current transfer function has been found for the proposed circuit. Four possible combinations of gate and bulk connections of the input signal are presented. Basing on the configuration giving the best linearity, the operational transconductance amplifier (OTA) has been designed and compared, by computer simulations, to the amplifier utilizing the gate driven classic MOS pair. 3rd order filters using the OTAs with linearized and simple MOS pair have been designed and the resulting parameters have been compared. Linearization through the presented simultaneous use of gate and bulk terminals seems to be useful for low voltage applications.
Field test and numerical studies of the scissors-AVLB type bridge
Authors: Krason W. , Malachowski J. 
Published: March 2014

Abstract
Scissor bridges are characterized by high mobility and modular structure. A single module-span consists of two spanning parts of the bridge; two main trucks and the support structure. Pin joints are used between modules of the single bridge span. Some aspects of the experimental test and numerical analysis of the scissor-AVLB type bridge operation are presented in this paper. Numerical analyses, presented here, were carried out for the scissors-type BLG bridge with treadways extended as compared to the classical bridge operated up to the present in the Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland. A structural modification of this kind considerably affects any changes in the effort of the force transmitting structure of the bridge. These changes may prove to be disadvantageous to the whole structure because of torsional moments that additionally load the treadways. Giving careful consideration to such operational instances has been highly appreciated because of the possibility of using this kind of bridges while organizing the crossing for vehicles featured with various wheel/track spaces (different from those used previously). The BLG bridge was numerically analysed to assess displacements and distributions of stresses throughout the bridge structure in different loading modes. Because of the complexity of the structure in question and simplifications assumed at the stage of constructing geometric and discrete models, the deformable 3D model of the scissors-type bridge needs verification. Verification of the reliability of models was performed by comparing deflections obtained in the different load modes that corresponded with tests performed on the test stand. It has been shown that the examined changes in conditions of loading the treadways of the bridge are of the greatest effect to the effort of the area of the joint which is attached to the girder bottom. Stress concentrations determined in the analysis are not hazardous to safe operation of the structure
Impact of preparation and storage of activated carbon on the high pressure sorption of CO2
Authors: Lutyński M. 
Published: March 2014

Abstract
Adsorption of carbon dioxide on activated carbons has become extremely interesting in the field of energy and environment. Activated carbon is either used as a model to understand sorption processes on coals as a part of research on CO2 geological storage/Enhanced Coalbed Methane or as an adsorbent for processes such as natural gas treatment or CO2 separation from flue gas. The paper presents results of high-pressure CO2 sorption at the temperature of 318K on two similar activated carbons (Filtrasorb 400 and WAZ 0.6-2.4 mm) where one sample of WAZ was not subjected to any pretreatment procedure. Experimental results were fitted with three parameter Langmuir and therefore it was possible to calculate CO2 adsorbed phase densities. The WAZ activated carbon has a slightly lower sorption even though it was pretreated with the same procedure. The untreated sample of WAZ exhibited sorption which was lower over 15%. Calculated adsorbed phase densities differ between the activated carbons and the lowest value was obtained for the untreated WAZ sample (21.0 mol/dm3).