Abstract: In this paper we evaluated the efficacy of
photodynamic treatment of infected wounds on pig animal model by
diffuse reflectance spectrometry. The study was conducted on fifteen
wounds contaminated with Staphylococcus aureus bacteria that were
incubated for 30 min with methylene blue solution (c = 3.3 x 10-3 M)
and exposed to laser radiations (λ = 670 nm, P = 15 mW) for 15 min.
The efficiency of photodynamic inactivation of bacteria was
evaluated by microbiological exams and diffuse reflectance
spectrometry. The results of the microbiological exams showed that
the bacterial concentration has decreased from 6.93±0.138
logCFU/ml to 3.12±0.108 logCFU/ml. The spectral examination
showed that the diffuse reflectance of wounds contaminated with
Staphylococcus aureus has decreased from 5.06±0.036 % to
3.36±0.025 %. In conclusion, photodynamic therapy is an effective
method for the treatment of infected wounds and there is a correlation
between the CFU count and diffuse reflectance.
Abstract: The aim of the work presented here was to either use
existing forest dynamic simulation models or calibrate a new one
both within the SYMFOR framework with the purpose of examining
changes in stand level basal area and functional composition in
response to selective logging considering trees > 10 cm d.b.h for two
areas of undisturbed Amazonian non flooded tropical forest in Brazil
and one in Peru. Model biological realism was evaluated for forest in
the undisturbed and selectively logged state and it was concluded that
forest dynamics were realistically represented. Results of the logging
simulation experiments showed that in relation to undisturbed forest
simulation subject to no form of harvesting intervention there was a
significant amount of change over a 90 year simulation period that
was positively proportional to the intensity of logging. Areas which
had in the dynamic equilibrium of undisturbed forest a greater
proportion of a specific ecological guild of trees known as the light
hardwoods (LHW’s) seemed to respond more favorably in terms of
less deviation but only within a specific range of baseline forest
composition beyond which compositional diversity became more
important. These finds are in line partially with practical management
experience and partiality basic systematics theory respectively.
Abstract: An effective approach for realizing the binary tree structure, representing a combinational logic functionality with enhanced throughput, is discussed in this paper. The optimization in maximum operating frequency was achieved through delay minimization, which in turn was possible by means of reducing the depth of the binary network. The proposed synthesis methodology has been validated by experimentation with FPGA as the target technology. Though our proposal is technology independent, yet the heuristic enables better optimization in throughput even after technology mapping for such Boolean functionality; whose reduced CNF form is associated with a lesser literal cost than its reduced DNF form at the Boolean equation level. For cases otherwise, our method converges to similar results as that of [12]. The practical results obtained for a variety of case studies demonstrate an improvement in the maximum throughput rate for Spartan IIE (XC2S50E-7FT256) and Spartan 3 (XC3S50-4PQ144) FPGA logic families by 10.49% and 13.68% respectively. With respect to the LUTs and IOBUFs required for physical implementation of the requisite non-regenerative logic functionality, the proposed method enabled savings to the tune of 44.35% and 44.67% respectively, over the existing efficient method available in literature [12].
Abstract: The paper presents the case study of hazard
identification and sensitivity of potential resource of emergency
water supply as part of the application of methodology classifying
the resources of drinking water for emergency supply of population.
The case study has been carried out on a selected resource of
emergency water supply in one region of the Czech Republic. The
hazard identification and sensitivity of potential resource of
emergency water supply is based on a unique procedure and
developed general registers of selected types of hazards and
sensitivities. The registers have been developed with the help of the
“Fault Tree Analysis” method in combination with the “What if
method”. The identified hazards for the assessed resource include
hailstorms and torrential rains, drought, soil erosion, accidents of
farm machinery, and agricultural production. The developed registers
of hazards and vulnerabilities and a semi-quantitative assessment of
hazards for individual parts of hydrological structure and
technological elements of presented drilled wells are the basis for a
semi-quantitative risk assessment of potential resource of emergency
supply of population and the subsequent classification of such
resource within the system of crisis planning.
Abstract: In determining the electromagnetic properties of
magnetic materials, hysteresis modeling is of high importance. Many
models are available to investigate those characteristics but they tend
to be complex and difficult to implement. In this paper a new
qualitative hysteresis model for ferromagnetic core is presented,
based on the function approximation capabilities of adaptive neuro
fuzzy inference system (ANFIS). The proposed ANFIS model
combined the neural network adaptive capabilities and the fuzzy
logic qualitative approach can restored the hysteresis curve with a
little RMS error. The model accuracy is good and can be easily
adapted to the requirements of the application by extending or
reducing the network training set and thus the required amount of
measurement data.
Abstract: From the beginning of creation, human being has ever
fought against the ecosystem by changes has made in environment.
The most environmental changes on the nature have been done after
starting the concentrated life in the same region. Dams are one of the
most important buildings in water resources and transferring. These
buildings have been made from old times without access to
hydrological, hydraulically, hydro mechanical information. Dams
have positive and negative effects on environment. Constructing a
dam relatively causes equal ecological consequences. According to
different criteria, environmental effects of dams can lead short term
and long term damages. These effects may influence on the situation
and treatment of meteorology, biology, culture, ancient works, etc
and severely causes to change and complicate it. So considering
importance of positive effects of dam construction, it is necessary to
minimize negative environmental effects of dams to achieve a stable
development. In this article the considered effects and their solutions
in influencing on assessment of destructive environmental effects of
dams construction have been surveyed and presented.
Abstract: One major difficulty that faces developers of
concurrent and distributed software is analysis for concurrency based
faults like deadlocks. Petri nets are used extensively in the
verification of correctness of concurrent programs. ECATNets are a
category of algebraic Petri nets based on a sound combination of
algebraic abstract types and high-level Petri nets. ECATNets have
'sound' and 'complete' semantics because of their integration in
rewriting logic and its programming language Maude. Rewriting
logic is considered as one of very powerful logics in terms of
description, verification and programming of concurrent systems We
proposed previously a method for translating Ada-95 tasking
programs to ECATNets formalism (Ada-ECATNet) and we showed
that ECATNets formalism provides a more compact translation for
Ada programs compared to the other approaches based on simple
Petri nets or Colored Petri nets. We showed also previously how the
ECATNet formalism offers to Ada many validation and verification
tools like simulation, Model Checking, accessibility analysis and
static analysis. In this paper, we describe the implementation of our
translation of the Ada programs into ECATNets.
Abstract: Evolvable hardware (EHW) refers to a selfreconfiguration
hardware design, where the configuration is under
the control of an evolutionary algorithm (EA). A lot of research has
been done in this area several different EA have been introduced.
Every time a specific EA is chosen for solving a particular problem,
all its components, such as population size, initialization, selection
mechanism, mutation rate, and genetic operators, should be selected
in order to achieve the best results. In the last three decade a lot of
research has been carried out in order to identify the best parameters
for the EA-s components for different “test-problems". However
different researchers propose different solutions. In this paper the
behaviour of mutation rate on (1+λ) evolution strategy (ES) for
designing logic circuits, which has not been done before, has been
deeply analyzed. The mutation rate for an EHW system modifies
values of the logic cell inputs, the cell type (for example from AND
to NOR) and the circuit output. The behaviour of the mutation has
been analyzed based on the number of generations, genotype
redundancy and number of logic gates used for the evolved circuits.
The experimental results found provide the behaviour of the mutation
rate to be used during evolution for the design and optimization of
logic circuits. The researches on the best mutation rate during the last
40 years are also summarized.
Abstract: The main objective of this study was to demonstrate that differentiation of infected and vaccinated animals (DIVA) strategy using different ELISA tests is possible when a subunit vaccine (Haemagglutinin protein) is used to prevent Avian influenza. Special emphasis was placed on the differentiation in the serological response to different components of the AIV (Nucleoprotein, Neuraminidase, Haemagglutinin, Nucleocapsid) between chickens that were vaccinated with a whole virus kill vaccine and recombinant vaccine. Furthermore, the potential use of this DIVA strategy using ELISA assays to detect Neuraminidase 1 (N1) was analyzed as strategy in countries where the field virus is H5N1 and the vaccine used is formulated with H5N2. Detection of AIV-s antibodies to any component in serum was negative for all animals on the study days 0-13. At study day 14 the titers of antibodies against Nucleoprotein (NP) and Nucleocapsid (NC) rose in the experimental groups vaccinated with Volvac® AI KV and were negatives during all the trial in the experimental groups vaccinated with a subunit H5; significant statistically differences were observed between these groups (p < 0.05). The seroconversion either Haemagglutinin or Neuraminidase was evident after 21 days post-vaccination in the experimental groups vaccinated with the respective viral fraction. Regarding the main aim of this study and according with the results that were obtained, use a combination of different ELISA test as a DIVA strategy is feasible when the vaccination is carry out with a subunit H5 vaccine. Also is possible to use the ELISA kit to detect Neuraminidase (either N1 or N2) as a DIVA concept in countries where H5N1 is present and the vaccination programs are done with H5N2 vaccine.
Abstract: The following paper shows an interactive tool which
main purpose is to teach how to play a flute. It consists of three
stages the first one is the instruction and teaching process through a
software application, the second is the practice part when the user
starts to play the flute (hardware specially designed for this
application) this flute is capable of capturing how is being played the
flute and the final stage is the one in which the data captured are sent
to the software and the user is evaluated in order to give him / she a
correction or an acceptance
Abstract: The objective of the paper is twofold. First, to develop a
formal framework for planning for mobile agents. A logical language
based on a temporal logic is proposed that can express a type of
tasks which often arise in network management. Second, to design a
planning algorithm for such tasks. The aim of this paper is to study
the importance of finding plans for mobile agents. Although there
has been a lot of research in mobile agents, not much work has been
done to incorporate planning ideas for such agents. This paper makes
an attempt in this direction. A theoretical study of finding plans for
mobile agents is undertaken. A planning algorithm (based on the
paradigm of mobile computing) is proposed and its space, time, and
communication complexity is analyzed. The algorithm is illustrated
by working out an example in detail.
Abstract: Recently, the health of retired National Football
League players, particularly lineman has been investigated. A number of studies have reported increased cardiometabolic risk, premature ardiovascular disease and incidence of type 2 diabetes. Rugby union players have somatotypes very similar
to National Football league players which suggest that rugby players may have similar health risks. The International Golden Oldies World Rugby Festival (GORF) provided a
unique opportunity to investigate the demographics of veteran rugby players. METHODOLOGIES: A cross-sectional, observational study was completed using an online web-based
questionnaire that consisted of medical history and
physiological measures. Data analysis was completed using a one sample t-test (50yrs) and Chi-square test. RESULTS: A total of 216 veteran rugby competitors
(response rate = 6.8%) representing 10 countries, aged 35-72 yrs (mean 51.2, S.D. ±8.0), participated in the online survey. As a group, the incidence of current smokers was low at 8.8%
(avg 72.4 cigs/wk) whilst the percentage consuming alcohol
was high (93.1% (avg 11.2 drinks/wk). Competitors reported
the following top six chronic diseases/disorders; hypertension
(18.6%), arthritis (OA/RA, 11.5%), asthma (9.3%),
hyperlipidemia (8.2%), diabetes (all types, 7.5%) and gout (6%), there were significant differences between groups with
regard to cancer (all types) and migraines. When compared to
the Australian general population (Australian Bureau of Statistics data, n=18,000), GORF competitors had a
Climstein Mike, Walsh Joe (corresponding author) and Burke Stephen
School of Exercise Science, Australian Catholic University, 25A Barker Road,
Strathfield, Sydney, NSW, 2016, Australia (e-mail:
[email protected], [email protected],
[email protected]).
John Best is with Orthosports, 160 Belmore Rd., Randwick, Sydney,NSW
2031, Australia (e-mail: [email protected]).
Heazlewood, Ian Timothy is with School of Environmental and Life
Sciences, Faculty Education, Health and Science, Charles Darwin University,
Precinct Yellow Building 2, Charles Darwin University, NT 0909, Australia
(e-mail: [email protected]).
Kettunen Jyrki Arcada University of Applied Sciences, Jan-Magnus
Janssonin aukio 1, FI-00550, Helsinki, Finland (e-mail:
[email protected]).
Adams Kent is with California State University Monterey Bay, Kinesiology Department, 100 Campus Center, Seaside, CA., 93955, USA (email: [email protected]).
DeBeliso Mark is with Department of Physical Education and Human
Performance, Southern Utah University, 351 West University Blvd, Cedar
City, Utah, USA (e-mail: [email protected]).
significantly lower incidence of anxiety (p
Abstract: This paper presents the application of Intelligent
Techniques to the various duties of Intelligent Condition Monitoring
Systems (ICMS) for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Robots. These
Systems are intended to support these Intelligent Robots in the event
of a Fault occurrence. Neural Networks are used for Diagnosis, whilst
Fuzzy Logic is intended for Prognosis and Remedy. The ultimate
goals of ICMS are to save large losses in financial cost, time and
data.
Abstract: Guard channels improve the probability of successful
handoffs by reserving a number of channels exclusively for handoffs.
This concept has the risk of underutilization of radio spectrum due to
the fact that fewer channels are granted to originating calls even if
these guard channels are not always used, when originating calls are
starving for the want of channels. The penalty is the reduction of
total carried traffic. The optimum number of guard channels can help
reduce this problem. This paper presents fuzzy logic based guard
channel scheme wherein guard channels are reorganized on the basis
of traffic density, so that guard channels are provided on need basis.
This will help in incorporating more originating calls and hence high
throughput of the radio spectrum
Abstract: Extracellular ubiquitin in vivo effect on regenerative liver cells and liver histoarchitectonics has been studied. Experiments were performed on mature female white rats. Partial hepatectomy was made using the modified method of Higgins and Anderson. Standard histopathological assessment of liver tissue was used. Proliferative activity of hepatocytes was analyzed by colchicine mitotic index and immunohistochemical staining on ki67. We have found that regardless of number of injections and dose of extracellular ubiquitin liver histology has not been changed, so at tissue level no effect was observed. In vivo double injection of ubiquitin significantly decreases the mitotic activity at 32 hour point after partial hepatectomy. Thus, we can conclude that in vivo injected extracellular ubiquitin inhibits proliferative activity of hepatocytes in partially hepatectomyzed rats.
Abstract: Utilizing echoic intension and distribution from different organs and local details of human body, ultrasonic image can catch important medical pathological changes, which unfortunately may be affected by ultrasonic speckle noise. A feature preserving ultrasonic image denoising and edge enhancement scheme is put forth, which includes two terms: anisotropic diffusion and edge enhancement, controlled by the optimum smoothing time. In this scheme, the anisotropic diffusion is governed by the local coordinate transformation and the first and the second order normal derivatives of the image, while the edge enhancement is done by the hyperbolic tangent function. Experiments on real ultrasonic images indicate effective preservation of edges, local details and ultrasonic echoic bright strips on denoising by our scheme.
Abstract: The client server systems using mobile
communications networks for data transmission became very
attractive for many economic agents, in the purpose of promoting and
offering electronic services to their clients. E-services are suitable for
business developing and financial benefits increasing. The products
or services can be efficiently delivered to a large number of clients,
using mobile Internet access technologies. The clients can have
access to e-services, anywhere and anytime, with the support of 3G,
GPRS, WLAN, etc., channels bandwidth, data services and protocols.
Based on the mobile communications networks evolution and
development, a convergence of technological and financial interests
of mobile operators, software developers, mobile terminals producers
and e-content providers is established. These will lead to a high level
of integration of IT&C resources and will facilitate the value added
services delivery through the mobile communications networks. In
this paper it is presented a client server system, for e-services access,
with Smartphones and PDA-s mobile software applications, installed
on Symbian and Windows Mobile operating systems.
Abstract: According to the density of the chips, designers are
trying to put so any facilities of computational and storage on single
chips. Along with the complexity of computational and storage
circuits, the designing, testing and debugging become more and more
complex and expensive. So, hardware design will be built by using
very high speed hardware description language, which is more
efficient and cost effective. This paper will focus on the
implementation of 32-bit ALU design based on Verilog hardware
description language. Adder and subtracter operate correctly on both
unsigned and positive numbers. In ALU, addition takes most of the
time if it uses the ripple-carry adder. The general strategy for
designing fast adders is to reduce the time required to form carry
signals. Adders that use this principle are called carry look- ahead
adder. The carry look-ahead adder is to be designed with combination
of 4-bit adders. The syntax of Verilog HDL is similar to the C
programming language. This paper proposes a unified approach to
ALU design in which both simulation and formal verification can
co-exist.
Abstract: In this paper, Zinc Oxide (ZnO) thin films are deposited on glass substrate by sol-gel method. The ZnO thin films with well defined orientation were acquired by spin coating of zinc acetate dehydrate monoethanolamine (MEA), de-ionized water and isopropanol alcohol. These films were pre-heated at 275°C for 10 min and then annealed at 350°C, 450°C and 550°C for 80 min. The effect of annealing temperature and different thickness on structure and surface morphology of the thin films were verified by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). It was found that there was a significant effect of annealing temperature on the structural parameters of the films such as roughness exponent, fractal dimension and interface width. Thin films also were characterizied by X-ray Diffractometery (XRD) method. XRD analysis revealed that the annealed ZnO thin films consist of single phase ZnO with wurtzite structure and show the c-axis grain orientation. Increasing annealing temperature increased the crystallite size and the c-axis orientation of the film after 450°C. Also In this study, ZnO thin films in different thickness have been prepared by sol-gel method on the glass substrate at room temperature. The thicknesses of films are 100, 150 and 250 nm. Using fractal analysis, morphological characteristics of surface films thickness in amorphous state were investigated. The results show that with increasing thickness, surface roughness (RMS) and lateral correlation length (ξ) are decreased. Also, the roughness exponent (α) and growth exponent (β) were determined to be 0.74±0.02 and 0.11±0.02, respectively.
Abstract: The advantage of solving the complex nonlinear
problems by utilizing fuzzy logic methodologies is that the
experience or expert-s knowledge described as a fuzzy rule base can
be directly embedded into the systems for dealing with the problems.
The current limitation of appropriate and automated designing of
fuzzy controllers are focused in this paper. The structure discovery
and parameter adjustment of the Branched T-S fuzzy model is
addressed by a hybrid technique of type constrained sparse tree
algorithms. The simulation result for different system model is
evaluated and the identification error is observed to be minimum.