Search results for: Activity Selection

Authors: S. Moein, S. A. Monadjemi, P. Moallem

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In this paper, application of artificial neural networks in typical disease diagnosis has been investigated. The real procedure of medical diagnosis which usually is employed by physicians was analyzed and converted to a machine implementable format. Then after selecting some symptoms of eight different diseases, a data set contains the information of a few hundreds cases was configured and applied to a MLP neural network. The results of the experiments and also the advantages of using a fuzzy approach were discussed as well. Outcomes suggest the role of effective symptoms selection and the advantages of data fuzzificaton on a neural networks-based automatic medical diagnosis system.

Keywords: Artificial Neural Networks, Fuzzy Logic, MedicalDiagnosis, Symptoms, Fuzzification.

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Authors: V. Narasimha Raghavan, M. Venkatesh, T. Peer Meera Labbai, Praveen Dwarakanath Prabhu

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The performance and complexity of QoS routing depends on the complex interaction between a large set of parameters. This paper investigated the scaling properties of source-directed link-state routing in large core networks. The simulation results show that the routing algorithm, network topology, and link cost function each have a significant impact on the probability of successfully routing new connections. The experiments confirm and extend the findings of other studies, and also lend new insight designing efficient quality-of-service routing policies in large networks.

Keywords: QoS, Link-State Routing, Dijkstra, Path Selection, Path Computation.

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Authors: H. Mahboubi, B. Moshiri, A. Khaki Seddigh

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In the past decade, because of wide applications of hybrid systems, many researchers have considered modeling and control of these systems. Since switching systems constitute an important class of hybrid systems, in this paper a method for optimal control of linear switching systems is described. The method is also applied on the two-tank system which is a much appropriate system to analyze different modeling and control techniques of hybrid systems. Simulation results show that, in this method, the goals of control and also problem constraints can be satisfied by an appropriate selection of cost function.

Keywords: Hybrid systems, optimal control, switched systems, two-tank system

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Authors: Erika K. Méndez, Carlos E. Orrego, Diana L. Manrique, Juan D. Gonzalez, Doménica Vallejo

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High moisture content in fruits generates post-harvest problems such as mechanical, biochemical, microbial and physical losses. Dehydration, which is based on the reduction of water activity of the fruit, is a common option for overcoming such losses. However, regular hot air drying could affect negatively the quality properties of the fruit due to the long residence time at high temperature. Power ultrasound (US) application during the convective drying has been used as a novel method able to enhance drying rate and, consequently, to decrease drying time. In the present study, a new approach was tested to evaluate the effect of US on the drying time, the final antioxidant activity (AA) and the total polyphenol content (TPC) of banana slices (BS), mango slices (MS) and guava slices (GS). There were also studied the drying kinetics with nine different models from which water effective diffusivities (Deff) (with or without shrinkage corrections) were calculated. Compared with the corresponding control tests, US assisted drying for fruit slices showed reductions in drying time between 16.23 and 30.19%, 11.34 and 32.73%, and 19.25 and 47.51% for the MS, BS and GS respectively. Considering shrinkage effects, Deff calculated values ranged from 1.67*10-10 to 3.18*10-10 m2/s, 3.96*10-10 and 5.57*10-10 m2/s and 4.61*10-10 to 8.16*10-10 m2/s for the BS, MS and GS samples respectively. Reductions of TPC and AA (as DPPH) were observed compared with the original content in fresh fruit data in all kinds of drying assays.

Keywords: Banana, drying, effective diffusivity, guava, mango, ultrasound.

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Authors: Mohamed Mounir Tellache, Hiroyuki Kambara, Yasuharu Koike, Makoto Miyakoshi, Natsue Yoshimura

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This study explores the practicality of using electroencephalographic (EEG) independent components to predict eight-direction finger movements in pseudo-real-time. Six healthy participants with individual-head MRI images performed finger movements in eight directions with two different arm configurations. The analysis was performed in two stages. The first stage consisted of using independent component analysis (ICA) to separate the signals representing brain activity from non-brain activity signals and to obtain the unmixing matrix. The resulting independent components (ICs) were checked, and those reflecting brain-activity were selected. Finally, the time series of the selected ICs were used to predict eight finger-movement directions using Sparse Logistic Regression (SLR). The second stage consisted of using the previously obtained unmixing matrix, the selected ICs, and the model obtained by applying SLR to classify a different EEG dataset. This method was applied to two different settings, namely the single-participant level and the group-level. For the single-participant level, the EEG dataset used in the first stage and the EEG dataset used in the second stage originated from the same participant. For the group-level, the EEG datasets used in the first stage were constructed by temporally concatenating each combination without repetition of the EEG datasets of five participants out of six, whereas the EEG dataset used in the second stage originated from the remaining participants. The average test classification results across datasets (mean ± S.D.) were 38.62 ± 8.36% for the single-participant, which was significantly higher than the chance level (12.50 ± 0.01%), and 27.26 ± 4.39% for the group-level which was also significantly higher than the chance level (12.49% ± 0.01%). The classification accuracy within [–45°, 45°] of the true direction is 70.03 ± 8.14% for single-participant and 62.63 ± 6.07% for group-level which may be promising for some real-life applications. Clustering and contribution analyses further revealed the brain regions involved in finger movement and the temporal aspect of their contribution to the classification. These results showed the possibility of using the ICA-based method in combination with other methods to build a real-time system to control prostheses.

Keywords: Brain-computer interface, BCI, electroencephalography, EEG, finger motion decoding, independent component analysis, pseudo-real-time motion decoding.

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Authors: Ahmad T. Al-Taani

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In this paper, an efficient structural approach for recognizing on-line handwritten digits is proposed. After reading the digit from the user, the slope is estimated and normalized for adjacent nodes. Based on the changing of signs of the slope values, the primitives are identified and extracted. The names of these primitives are represented by strings, and then a finite state machine, which contains the grammars of the digits, is traced to identify the digit. Finally, if there is any ambiguity, it will be resolved. Experiments showed that this technique is flexible and can achieve high recognition accuracy for the shapes of the digits represented in this work.

Keywords: Digits Recognition, Pattern Recognition, FeatureExtraction, Structural Primitives, Document Processing, Handwritten Recognition, Primitives Selection.

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Authors: Wafa Halfaoui Mbarek, Khir Tahar, Ben Brahim Ammar

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This study reports a comparison from an exergetic point of view between three configurations of vapor compression industrial refrigeration systems operating with R134a as working fluid. The performances of the different cycles are analyzed as function of several operating parameters such as condensing temperature and inter stage pressure. In addition, the contributions of component exergy destruction to the total exergy destruction are obtained for each system. The results are estimated to be used in the selection of the most advantageous configuration from an exergetic view point.

Keywords: Vapor compression, exergy, destruction, efficiency, R134a.

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Authors: Yoon- Ho Shin, Jin-Seung Choi, Dong-Won Kang, Jeong-Woo Seo, Joo-Hack Lee, Ju-Young Kim, Dae-Hyeok Kim, Seung-Tae Yang, Gye-Rae Tack

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It is difficult to study the effect of various variables on cycle fitting through actual experiment. To overcome such difficulty, the forward dynamics of a musculoskeletal model was applied to cycle fitting in this study. The measured EMG data weres compared with the muscle activities of the musculoskeletal model through forward dynamics. EMG data were measured from five cyclists who do not have musculoskeletal diseases during three minutes pedaling with a constant load (150 W) and cadence (90 RPM). The muscles used for the analysis were the Vastus Lateralis (VL), Tibialis Anterior (TA), Bicep Femoris (BF), and Gastrocnemius Medial (GM). Person’s correlation coefficients of the muscle activity patterns, the peak timing of the maximum muscle activities, and the total muscle activities were calculated and compared. BIKE3D model of AnyBody (Anybodytech, Denmark) was used for the musculoskeletal model simulation. The comparisons of the actual experiments with the simulation results showed significant correlations in the muscle activity patterns (VL: 0.789, TA: 0.503, BF: 0.468, GM: 0.670). The peak timings of the maximum muscle activities were distributed at particular phases. The total muscle activities were compared with the normalized muscle activities, and the comparison showed about 10% difference in the VL (+10%), TA (+9.7%), and BF (+10%), excluding the GM (+29.4%). Thus, it can be concluded that muscle activities of model & experiment showed similar results. The results of this study indicated that it was possible to apply the simulation of further improved musculoskeletal model to cycle fitting.

Keywords: Cycle fitting, EMG, Musculoskeletal modeling, Simulation.

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Authors: S. Balaji, E. Golden Julie, Y. Harold Robinson

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The context aware adaptive routing protocol is presented for unicast communication in intermittently connected mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs). The selection of the node is done by the Kalman filter prediction theory and it also makes use of utility functions. The context aware adaptive routing is defined by spray and wait technique, but the time consumption in delivering the message is too high and also the resource wastage is more. In this paper, we describe the spray and focus routing scheme for avoiding the existing problems.

Keywords: Context aware adaptive routing, Kalman filter prediction, spray and wait, spray and focus, intermittent networks.

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Authors: Daniel F. García, Adrián Fernández

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Today, computer systems are more and more complex and support growing security risks. The security managers need to find effective security risk assessment methodologies that allow modeling well the increasing complexity of current computer systems but also maintaining low the complexity of the assessment procedure. This paper provides a brief analysis of common security risk assessment methodologies leading to the selection of a proper methodology to fulfill these requirements. Then, a detailed analysis of the most effective methodology is accomplished, presenting numerical examples to demonstrate how easy it is to use.

Keywords: Computer security, qualitative and quantitative methods, risk assessment methodologies, security risk assessment.

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Authors: Mulugeta Shegaze, Mekitie Wondafrash, Alemayehu A. Alemayehu, Shikur Mohammed, Zewdu Shewangezaw, Mukerem Abdo, Gebresilasea Gendisha

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Background: The 2004 World Health Assembly called for specific actions to halt the overweight and obesity epidemic that is currently penetrating urban populations in the developing world. Adolescents require particular attention due to their vulnerability to develop obesity and the fact that adolescent weight tracks strongly into adulthood. However, there is scarcity of information on the modifiable risk factors to be targeted for primary intervention among urban adolescents in Ethiopia. This study was aimed at determining the magnitude and risk factors of overweight and obesity among high school adolescents in Addis Ababa. Methods: An institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted in February and March 2014 on 456 randomly selected adolescents from 20 high schools in Addis Ababa city.  Demographic data and other risk factors of overweight and obesity were collected using self-administered structured questionnaire, whereas anthropometric measurements of weight and height were taken using calibrated equipment and standardized techniques. The WHO STEPS instrument for chronic disease risk was applied to assess dietary habit and physical activity. Overweight and obesity status was determined based on BMI-for-age percentiles of WHO 2007 reference population. Results: The prevalence rates of overweight, obesity, and overall overweight/ obesity among high school adolescents in Addis Ababa were 9.7% (95%CI = 6.9-12.4%), 4.2% (95%CI = 2.3-6.0%), and 13.9% (95%CI = 10.6-17.1%), respectively. Overweight/obesity prevalence was highest among female adolescents, in private schools, and in the higher wealth category. In multivariable regression model, being female [AOR(95%CI) = 5.4(2.5,12.1)], being from private school [AOR(95%CI) = 3.0(1.4,6.2)], having >3 regular meals [AOR(95%CI) = 4.0(1.3,13.0)], consumption of sweet foods [AOR(95%CI) = 5.0(2.4,10.3)] and spending >3 hours/day sitting [AOR(95%CI) = 3.5(1.7,7.2)] were found to increase overweight/ obesity risk, whereas high Total Physical Activity level [AOR(95%CI) = 0.21(0.08,0.57)] and better nutrition knowledge [AOR(95%CI) = 0.160.07,0.37)] were found protective. Conclusions: More than one in ten of the high school adolescents were affected by overweight/obesity with dietary habit and physical activity are important modifiable risk factors. Well-tailored nutrition education program targeting lifestyle change should be initiated with more emphasis to female adolescents and students in private schools.

Keywords: Adolescents, NCDs, overweight, obesity.

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Authors: Bruce X. B. Yu, Yan Liu, Keith C. C. Chan

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We propose to record Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) of elderly people using a vision-based system so as to provide better assistive and personalization technologies. Current ADL-related research is based on data collected with help from non-elderly subjects in laboratory environments and the activities performed are predetermined for the sole purpose of data collection. To obtain more realistic datasets for the application, we recorded ADLs for the elderly with data collected from real-world environment involving real elderly subjects. Motivated by the need to collect data for more effective research related to elderly care, we chose to collect data in the room of an elderly person. Specifically, we installed Kinect, a vision-based sensor on the ceiling, to capture the activities that the elderly subject performs in the morning every day. Based on the data, we identified 12 morning activities that the elderly person performs daily. To recognize these activities, we created a HARELCARE framework to investigate into the effectiveness of existing Human Activity Recognition (HAR) algorithms and propose the use of a transfer learning algorithm for HAR. We compared the performance, in terms of accuracy, and training progress. Although the collected dataset is relatively small, the proposed algorithm has a good potential to be applied to all daily routine activities for healthcare purposes such as evidence-based diagnosis and treatment.

Keywords: Daily activity recognition, healthcare, IoT sensors, transfer learning.

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Authors: Rajesh Gupta, Anish Sachdeva, Arvind Bhardwaj

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Shippers are concentrating on the core competency to stay competitive and outsourcing the logistic activities to the third party who is expert in this field. This third party logistics (3PL) is drawing the due attention at government, industrial, academicians and practitioner-s levels. If the logistics cost in India can be brought down from the current level of 13% of GDP to 9% (level in the U.S.), the savings would be around Rs 3 lakh crore approximately per annum. But the problem with the shippers is to select the suitable 3PL provider. Various criteria for selection of 3PL have been listed in the literature which are discussed in the present literature review. Every shipper will select the criteria suitable to its own requirement which have to be dynamically reviewed time to time so as to fit in the ever changing environment.

Keywords: 3PL, criteria, shipper, outsourcing

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Authors: Abdel Rodríguez, Isis Bonet, Ricardo Grau, María M. García

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In this paper we designed and implemented a new ensemble of classifiers based on a sequence of classifiers which were specialized in regions of the training dataset where errors of its trained homologous are concentrated. In order to separate this regions, and to determine the aptitude of each classifier to properly respond to a new case, it was used another set of classifiers built hierarchically. We explored a selection based variant to combine the base classifiers. We validated this model with different base classifiers using 37 training datasets. It was carried out a statistical comparison of these models with the well known Bagging and Boosting, obtaining significantly superior results with the hierarchical ensemble using Multilayer Perceptron as base classifier. Therefore, we demonstrated the efficacy of the proposed ensemble, as well as its applicability to general problems.

Keywords: classifiers, delegation, ensemble

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Authors: Yahia Massinissa, Kalla A, Yahia M, Benbia S

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A lot of recent research have spoken on the relation between the increase of the homocysteinemia and some kinds of cancer . For that, our study was based on the research of a possible relation between the increase of the concentration of this amino-acid in the plasma and the appearance of the disease of the Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia in a part of Algerian children with Berber origin in the East of Algeria . The study has done on 47 ill persons with an average age of (09±06 ) years , with whom the disease has diagnosed by blood and marrow examination in the hospital of blood diseases in the CHU of Batna, and on 194 healthy witnesses of the same age. The two groups were benefited by a dosage of the concentration of the homocysteine vitamin B9 ,vitamin B12 , and also of the study of special polymorphisms of indispensable enzymes in the metabolism of this acid , and that by the use of the method ( Light cycler ) Real time PCR , on the following enzymes : MS ( C2756G ), MSR ( A66G ) ,MTHFR1 ( C677T ) and MTHFR2 (A1298C). The obtained results have revealed that the rate of the homozygote muted genotype is the less frequent in the two groups , and that exist at list one genotype of each enzyme in the ill group and in which the percentage exceed with remarkable way the same genotype in the healthy group and we notice specially the muted genotype GG of -the methionine synthetase-and the form TT of the enzyme – methyline tetra hydrofolate reductase – We notice the existence of considerable number of genotypes in the ill group lied with characteristic increase of this Amino-acid ,and that for the reduction of the biologic activity of these enzymes which become inefficient in the transfer of the homocysteine into the methionine and cause the diminution of the biologic activity of these enzymes and with consequence the reduction of the percentage of methylic radicals in the DNA of studied genes and that lead to the increase of the activity and the capacity of transcription , and it-s so probably that this last one is one of the factors of this disease especially if we know that the specific check-up of vitamins is normal and similar in the two groups , which ovoid the hypothesis of the reduction of vitamins . We notice also that the heterozygote genotype is the less in the sick category except the MTHFR2. Wild genotype is more frequent in the witness group except MSR. Even these results are partials; they open a new way in the genetic diagnosis of this malicious disease which allow a precocious diagnosis and the use of an effective and appropriated treatment in the same time.

Keywords: Genetic polymorphism, Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia, Biomarkers, Metabolism of homocystein

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Authors: Addion Nizori, Lan T.T. Bui, Darryl M. Small

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Ascorbic acid (AA), commonly known as vitamin C, is essential for normal functioning of the body and maintenance of metabolic integrity. Among its various roles are as an antioxidant, a cofactor in collagen formation and other reactions, as well as reducing physical stress and maintenance of the immune system. Recent collaborative research between the Australian Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) in Scottsdale, Tasmania and RMIT University has sought to overcome the problems arising from the inherent instability of ascorbic acid during processing and storage of foods. The recent work has demonstrated the potential of microencapsulation by spray drying as a means to enhance retention. The purpose of this current study has been focused upon the influence of spray drying conditions on the properties of encapsulated ascorbic acid. The process was carried out according to a central composite design. Independent variables were: inlet temperature (80-120° C) and feed flow rate (7-14 mL/minute). Process yield, ascorbic acid loss, moisture content, water activity and particle size distribution were analysed as responses. The results have demonstrated the potential of microencapsulation by spray drying as a means to enhance retention. Vitamin retention, moisture content, water activity and process yield were influenced positively by inlet air temperature and negatively by feed flow rate.

Keywords: Microencapsulation, spray drying, ascorbic acid.

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Authors: Mihaela Munteanu (Pila), Silvius Stanciu

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This paper presents the aspects of the official control of fishery in the Republic of Moldova. Currently, the regulations and the activity of national institutions with responsibilities in the field of food quality are in a process of harmonization with the European rules, aiming at European integration, quality improvement and providing a higher level of food safety. The National Agency for Food Safety is the main national body with responsibilities in the field of food safety. In the field of fishery products, the Agency carries out an intensive activity of informing the citizen and controlling the products marketed. The paper presents the dangers related to the consumption of fish and fishery products traded on the national market, the sanitary-veterinary inspections conducted by the profile institution and the improper situations identified. The national market of fishery products depends largely on imports, mainly focused on ocean fish. The research carried out has shown that during the period 2011-2018, following the inspections carried out on fishery products traded on the national market, a number of inconsistencies have been identified. Thus, indigenous products were frequently detected with sensory characteristics unfit for consumption, and being commercialized in inappropriate locations or contaminated with chemical pollutants. On import products controlled, the most frequent inconsistent situations have been represented by inconsistent sensory aspects and by parasite contamination. Taking into account the specific aspects of aquatic products, including the high level of alterability, special conditions of growth, marketing, culinary preparation and consumption are necessary in order to decrease the risk of disease over the population. Certificates, attestations and other documents certifying the quality of batches, completed by additional laboratory examinations, are necessary in order to increase the level of confidence on the quality of products marketed in the Republic. The implementation of various control procedures and mechanisms at national level, correlated with the focused activity of the specialized institutions, can decrease the risk of contamination and avoid cases of disease on the population due to the consumption of fishery products.

Keywords: Fishery products, food safety, insurance, inspection, Republic of Moldova.

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Authors: Andrey V. Timofeev

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The paper presents new results concerning selection of optimal information fusion formula for ensembles of C-OTDR channels. The goal of information fusion is to create an integral classificator designed for effective classification of seismoacoustic target events. The LPBoost (LP-β and LP-B variants), the Multiple Kernel Learning, and Weighing of Inversely as Lipschitz Constants (WILC) approaches were compared. The WILC is a brand new approach to optimal fusion of Lipschitz Classifiers Ensembles. Results of practical usage are presented.

Keywords: Lipschitz Classifier, Classifiers Ensembles, LPBoost, C-OTDR systems, ν-OTDR systems.

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Authors: Mahnaz Hosseinzadeh, Aliyeh Kazemi

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In this paper, a method is proposed for solving Fuzzy Multi-Objective Linear Programming problems (FMOLPP) with fuzzy right hand side and fuzzy decision variables. To illustrate the proposed method, it is applied to the problem of selecting suppliers for an automotive parts producer company in Iran in order to find the number of optimal orders allocated to each supplier considering the conflicting objectives. Finally, the obtained results are discussed.

Keywords: Fuzzy multi-objective linear programming problems, triangular fuzzy numbers, fuzzy ranking, supplier selection problem.

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Authors: M. J. Pourvaghar, M. E. Bahram

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Obesity and overweight is one of the most common metabolic disorders in industrialized countries and in developing countries. One consequence of pathological obesity is cardiovascular disease and metabolic syndrome. Chemerin is an adipocyne that plays a role in the regulation of the adipocyte function and the metabolism of glucose in the liver and musculoskeletal system. Most likely, chemerin is involved in obesity-related disorders such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Aerobic exercises reduce the level of chemerin and cause macrophage penetration into fat cells and inflammatory factors. Several efforts have been made to clarify the cellular and molecular mechanisms of hypertrophy and muscular atrophy. Myostatin, a new member of the TGF-β family, is a transforming growth factor β that its expression negatively regulates the growth of the skeletal muscle; and the increase of this hormone has been observed in conditions of muscular atrophy. While in response to muscle overload, its levels decrease after the atrophy period, TGF-β is the most important cytokine in the development of skeletal muscle. Myostatin plays an important role in muscle control, and animal and human studies show a negative role of myostatin in the growth of skeletal muscle. Separation of myostatin from Golgi begins on the ninth day of the onset period and continues until birth at all times of muscle growth. Higher levels of myostatin are found in obese people. Resistance training for 10 weeks could reduce levels of plasma myostatin.

Keywords: Chemerin, myostatin, obesity, physical activity.

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Authors: Simon B. N. Thompson

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Cortisol is important to our immune system, regulates our stress response, and is a factor in maintaining brain temperature. Saliva cortisol is a practical and useful non-invasive measurement that signifies the presence of the important hormone. Electrical activity in the jaw muscles typically rises when the muscles are moved during yawning and the electrical level is found to be correlated with the cortisol level. In two studies using identical paradigms, a total of 108 healthy subjects were exposed to yawning-provoking stimuli so that their cortisol levels and electrical nerve impulses from their jaw muscles was recorded. Electrical activity is highly correlated with cortisol levels in healthy people. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Yawning Susceptibility Scale, General Health Questionnaire, demographic, health details were collected and exclusion criteria applied for voluntary recruitment: chronic fatigue, diabetes, fibromyalgia, heart condition, high blood pressure, hormone replacement therapy, multiple sclerosis, and stroke. Significant differences were found between the saliva cortisol samples for the yawners as compared with the non-yawners between rest and post-stimuli. Significant evidence supports the Thompson Cortisol Hypothesis that suggests rises in cortisol levels are associated with yawning. Ethics approval granted and professional code of conduct, confidentiality, and safety issues are approved therein.

Keywords: Cortisol, Diagnosis, Neurological Disease, Thompson Cortisol Hypothesis, Yawning.

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Authors: Sarkar M. A. Kawsar, Sarkar M. A. Mamun, Md S. Rahman, Hidetaro Yasumitsu, Yasuhiro Ozeki

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The present study has been taken to explore the screening of in vitro antimicrobial activities of D-galactose-binding sponge lectin (HOL-30). HOL-30 was purified from the marine demosponge Halichondria okadai by affinity chromatography. The molecular mass of the lectin was determined to be 30 kDa with a single polypeptide by SDS-PAGE under non-reducing and reducing conditions. HOL-30 agglutinated trypsinized and glutaraldehydefixed rabbit and human erythrocytes with preference for type O erythrocytes. The lectin was subjected to evaluation for inhibition of microbial growth by the disc diffusion method against eleven human pathogenic gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. The lectin exhibited strong antibacterial activity against gram-positive bacteria, such as Bacillus megaterium and Bacillus subtilis. However, it did not affect against gram-negative bacteria such as Salmonella typhi and Escherichia coli. The largest zone of inhibition was recorded of Bacillus megaterium (12 in diameter) and Bacillus subtilis (10 mm in diameter) at a concentration of the lectin (250 μg/disc). On the other hand, the antifungal activity of the lectin was investigated against six phytopathogenic fungi based on food poisoning technique. The lectin has shown maximum inhibition (22.83%) of mycelial growth of Botrydiplodia theobromae at a concentration of 100 μg/mL media. These findings indicate that the lectin may be of importance to clinical microbiology and have therapeutic applications.

Keywords: Antibacterial, Halichondria okadai, Inhibition zone, Lectin.

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Authors: Manjit Singh

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Multiscale entropy (MSE) is an extensively used index to provide a general understanding of multiple complexity of physiologic mechanism of heart rate variability (HRV) that operates on a wide range of time scales. Accurate selection of electrocardiogram (ECG) sampling frequency is an essential concern for clinically significant HRV quantification; high ECG sampling rate increase memory requirements and processing time, whereas low sampling rate degrade signal quality and results in clinically misinterpreted HRV. In this work, the impact of ECG sampling frequency on MSE based HRV have been quantified. MSE measures are found to be sensitive to ECG sampling frequency and effect of sampling frequency will be a function of time scale.

Keywords: ECG, heart rate variability, HRV, multiscale entropy, sampling frequency.

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Authors: Ye. Shapovalov, V. Shapovalov, O. Stryzhak, A. Salyuk

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Over the past decades, amount of scientific information has been growing exponentially. It became more complicated to process and systemize this amount of data. The approach to systematization of scientific information on the production of biogas based on the ontological IT platform “T.O.D.O.S.” has been developed. It has been proposed to select semantic characteristics of each work for their further introduction into the IT platform “T.O.D.O.S.”. An ontological graph with a ranking function for previous scientific research and for a system of selection of microorganisms has been worked out. These systems provide high performance of information management of scientific information.

Keywords: Ontology-based analysis, analysis of scientific data, methanogenesys, microorganism hierarchy, T.O.D.O.S.

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Authors: M.R.Shabgard, R.M.Shotorbani

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FW4 is a newly developed hot die material widely used in Forging Dies manufacturing. The right selection of the machining conditions is one of the most important aspects to take into consideration in the Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM) of FW4. In this paper an attempt has been made to develop mathematical models for relating the Material Removal Rate (MRR), Tool Wear Ratio (TWR) and surface roughness (Ra) to machining parameters (current, pulse-on time and voltage). Furthermore, a study was carried out to analyze the effects of machining parameters in respect of listed technological characteristics. The results of analysis of variance (ANOVA) indicate that the proposed mathematical models, can adequately describe the performance within the limits of the factors being studied.

Keywords: Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM), linearregression technique, Response Surface Methodology (RSM)

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Authors: K. Lisinchuk

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An effective approach to the management of international educational mobility in regional universities with the purpose of increasing tourist activity in the region is considered.

Keywords: Export and import of tourist and educational services, international academic mobility, regional tourist activities.

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Authors: Mohamed Mahmoud Hasan, Hoda M. O. Mokhtar

Abstract:

With the gigantic increment in portable applications use and the spread of positioning and location-aware technologies that we are seeing today, new procedures and methodologies for location-based strategies are required. Location recommendation is one of the highly demanded location-aware applications uniquely with the wide accessibility of social network applications that are location-aware including Facebook check-ins, Foursquare, and others. In this paper, we aim to present a new methodology for location recommendation. The proposed approach coordinates customary spatial traits alongside other essential components including shortest distance, and user interests. We also present another idea namely, "activity trajectory" that represents trajectory that fulfills the set of activities that the user is intrigued to do. The approach dispatched acquaints the related distance value to select trajectory(ies) with minimum cost value (distance) and spatial-area to prune unneeded directions. The proposed calculation utilizes the idea of movement direction to prescribe most comparable N-trajectory(ies) that matches the client's required action design with least voyaging separation. To upgrade the execution of the proposed approach, parallel handling is applied through the employment of a MapReduce based approach. Experiments taking into account genuine information sets were built up and tested for assessing the proposed approach. The exhibited tests indicate how the proposed approach beets different strategies giving better precision and run time.

Keywords: Location-based recommendation, map-reduce, recommendation system, trajectory search.

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Authors: Mohammad AlHamaydeh, Sherif Yehia, Nader Aly, Ammar Douba, Layane Hamzeh

Abstract:

Four design alternatives for lateral force-resisting systems of tall buildings in Dubai, UAE are presented. Quantitative comparisons between the different designs are also made. This paper is intended to provide different feasible lateral systems to be used in Dubai in light of the available seismic hazard studies of the UAE. The different lateral systems are chosen in conformance with the International Building Code (IBC). Moreover, the expected behavior of each system is highlighted and light is shed on some of the cost implications associated with lateral system selection.

Keywords: Concrete, Dual, Dubai UAE Seismicity, Special Moment-Resisting Frames (SMRF), Special Shear Wall, Steel

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Authors: Serge B. Provost, Min Jiang

Abstract:

The density estimates considered in this paper comprise a base density and an adjustment component consisting of a linear combination of orthogonal polynomials. It is shown that, in the context of density approximation, the coefficients of the linear combination can be determined either from a moment-matching technique or a weighted least-squares approach. A kernel representation of the corresponding density estimates is obtained. Additionally, two refinements of the Kronmal-Tarter stopping criterion are proposed for determining the degree of the polynomial adjustment. By way of illustration, the density estimation methodology advocated herein is applied to two data sets.

Keywords: kernel density estimation, orthogonal polynomials, moment-based methodologies, density approximation.

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Authors: Wan Nural Jawahir Wan Yussof, Hans Burkhardt

Abstract:

Liver segmentation is the first significant process for liver diagnosis of the Computed Tomography. It segments the liver structure from other abdominal organs. Sophisticated filtering techniques are indispensable for a proper segmentation. In this paper, we employ a 3D anisotropic diffusion as a preprocessing step. While removing image noise, this technique preserve the significant parts of the image, typically edges, lines or other details that are important for the interpretation of the image. The segmentation task is done by using thresholding with automatic threshold values selection and finally the false liver region is eliminated using 3D connected component. The result shows that by employing the 3D anisotropic filtering, better liver segmentation results could be achieved eventhough simple segmentation technique is used.

Keywords: 3D Anisotropic Diffusion, non-linear filtering, CT Liver.

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