Abstract: Anti-allergic effects of royal jelly were evaluated in a human-like mouse model of atopic dermatitis. NC/Nga mice were cutaneously applied with royal jelly for 6 weeks. Royal jelly-treated mice exhibited lower levels of serum total immunoglobulin E in comparison with controls. We found that the treatment decreased (11% to the control) expression of mRNA for aquaporin-3, which is involved in the modulation of epidermal hydration. Microarray analysis revealed more than 10-fold changes in the expression of several genes, such as transglutaminase 2, repetin, and keratins. In normal human epidermal keratinocytes, royal jelly extract suppressed interleukin-8 elevation induced by TNF-α and interferon-γ, suggesting direct anti-inflammatory activity in keratinocytes. Collectively, topical application of royal jelly may be useful for amelioration of lesions and inflammation in atopic dermatitis.
Abstract: This work has been conducted to study on comfort level of drivers of suspended cabin tractor semitrailer. Some drivers suffer from low back pain caused by vibration. The practical significance of applying suspended cabin type of tractor semi trailer was tested at different road conditions, different speed as well as different load conditions for comfortable driver seat interface (x, y, z ) and the process parameters have been prioritized using Taguchi-s L27 orthogonal array. Genetic Algorithm (GA) is used to optimize the human comfort vibration of suspended cabin tractor semitrailer drivers. The practical significance of applying GA to human comfort to reaction of suspended cabin tractor semitrailer has been validated by means of computing the deviation between predicted and experimentally obtained human comfort to vibration. The optimized acceleration data indicate a little uncomfortable ride for suspended cabin tractor semitrailer.
Abstract: Phytases (myo-inositol hexakisphosphate
phosphohydrolases; EC 3.1.3.8) catalyze the hydrolysis of phytic acid
(myoinositol hexakisphosphate) to the mono-, di-, tri-, tetra-, and
pentaphosphates of myo-inositol and inorganic phosphate.
Therrmophilic bacteria isolated from water sampled from hot spring.
About 120 isolates of bacteria were successfully isolated form hot
spring water sample and tested for extracellular phytase producing.
After 5 passages of the screening on the PSM media, 4 isolates were
found stable in producing phytase enzyme. The 16s RDNA
sequencing for identification of bacteria using molecular technique
revealed that all isolates those positive in phytase producing are
belong to Geobacillus spp. And Anoxybacillus spp. Anoxybacillus
rupiensis UniSZA-7 were identified for their carbon source utilization
using Phenotype Microarray Plate of Biolog and found they utilize
several kind of carbon source provided.
Abstract: In this paper, we intend to study the synthesis of the
multibeam arrays. The synthesis implementation-s method for this
type of arrays permits to approach the appropriated radiance-s
diagram. The used approach is based on neural network that are
capable to model the multibeam arrays, consider predetermined
general criteria-s, and finally it permits to predict the appropriated
diagram from the neural model. Our main contribution in this paper is
the extension of a synthesis model of these multibeam arrays.
Abstract: Numerical design optimization is a powerful tool that
can be used by engineers during any stage of the design process.
There are many different applications for structural optimization. A
specific application that will be discussed in the following paper is
experimental data matching. Data obtained through tests on a physical
structure will be matched with data from a numerical model of that
same structure. The data of interest will be the dynamic characteristics
of an antenna structure focusing on the mode shapes and modal
frequencies. The structure used was a scaled and simplified model of
the Karoo Array Telescope-7 (KAT-7) antenna structure.
This kind of data matching is a complex and difficult task. This
paper discusses how optimization can assist an engineer during the
process of correlating a finite element model with vibration test data.
Abstract: Low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes have been shown to deliver capacity approaching performance; however, problematic graphical structures (e.g. trapping sets) in the Tanner graph of some LDPC codes can cause high error floors in bit-error-ratio (BER) performance under conventional sum-product algorithm (SPA). This paper presents a serial concatenation scheme to avoid the trapping sets and to lower the error floors of LDPC code. The outer code in the proposed concatenation is the LDPC, and the inner code is a high rate array code. This approach applies an interactive hybrid process between the BCJR decoding for the array code and the SPA for the LDPC code together with bit-pinning and bit-flipping techniques. Margulis code of size (2640, 1320) has been used for the simulation and it has been shown that the proposed concatenation and decoding scheme can considerably improve the error floor performance with minimal rate loss.
Abstract: Planar systems of electrodes arranged on both sides of dielectric piezoelectric layer are applied in numerous transducers. They are capable of electronic beam-steering of generated wave both in azimuth and elevation. The wave-beam control is achieved by addressable driving of two-dimensional transducer through proper voltage supply of electrodes on opposite surfaces of the layer. In this paper a semi-analytical method of analysis of the considered transducer is proposed, which is a generalization of the well-known BIS-expansion method. It was earlier exploited with great success in the theory of interdigital transducers of surface acoustic waves, theory of elastic wave scattering by cracks and certain advanced electrostatic problems. The corresponding nontrivial electrostatic problem is formulated and solved numerically.
Abstract: Tumor classification is a key area of research in the
field of bioinformatics. Microarray technology is commonly used in
the study of disease diagnosis using gene expression levels. The
main drawback of gene expression data is that it contains thousands
of genes and a very few samples. Feature selection methods are used
to select the informative genes from the microarray. These methods
considerably improve the classification accuracy. In the proposed
method, Genetic Algorithm (GA) is used for effective feature
selection. Informative genes are identified based on the T-Statistics,
Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) and F-Test values. The initial candidate
solutions of GA are obtained from top-m informative genes. The
classification accuracy of k-Nearest Neighbor (kNN) method is used
as the fitness function for GA. In this work, kNN and Support Vector
Machine (SVM) are used as the classifiers. The experimental results
show that the proposed work is suitable for effective feature
selection. With the help of the selected genes, GA-kNN method
achieves 100% accuracy in 4 datasets and GA-SVM method
achieves in 5 out of 10 datasets. The GA with kNN and SVM
methods are demonstrated to be an accurate method for microarray
based tumor classification.
Abstract: In this paper, we study FPGA implementation of a
novel supra-optimal receiver diversity combining technique,
generalized maximal ratio combining (GMRC), for wireless
transmission over fading channels in SIMO systems. Prior
published results using ML-detected GMRC diversity signal
driven by BPSK showed superior bit error rate performance to
the widely used MRC combining scheme in an imperfect
channel estimation (ICE) environment. Under perfect channel
estimation conditions, the performance of GMRC and MRC
were identical. The main drawback of the GMRC study was
that it was theoretical, thus successful FPGA implementation
of it using pipeline techniques is needed as a wireless
communication test-bed for practical real-life situations.
Simulation results showed that the hardware implementation
was efficient both in terms of speed and area. Since diversity
combining is especially effective in small femto- and picocells,
internet-associated wireless peripheral systems are to
benefit most from GMRC. As a result, many spinoff
applications can be made to the hardware of IP-based 4th
generation networks.
Abstract: The aim of this study was to develop a dynamic cardiac phantom for quality control in myocardial scintigraphy. The dynamic heart phantom constructed only contained the left ventricle, made of elastic material (latex), comprising two cavities: one internal and one external. The data showed a non-significant variation in the values of left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) obtained by varying the heart rate. It was also possible to evaluate the ejection fraction (LVEF) through different arrays of image acquisition and to perform an intercomparison of LVEF by two different scintillation cameras. The results of the quality control tests were satisfactory, showing that they can be used as parameters in future assessments. The new dynamic heart phantom was demonstrated to be effective for use in LVEF measurements. Therefore, the new heart simulator is useful for the quality control of scintigraphic cameras.
Abstract: Aiming the application of localized hyperthermia, a
magnetic induction system with new approaches is proposed. The techniques in this system for improving the effectiveness of localized hyperthermia are that using magnetic circuit and the multiple-coil array instead of a giant coil for generating magnetic field. Specially, amorphous metal is adopted as the material of magnetic circuit. Detail
design parameters of hardware are well described. Simulation tool is
employed for this work and experiment result is reported as well.
Abstract: In this paper, the phase control antenna array synthesis
is presented. The problem is formulated as a constrained optimization
problem that imposes nulls with prescribed level while maintaining
the sidelobe at a prescribed level. For efficient use of the algorithm
memory, compared to the well known Particle Swarm Optimization
(PSO), the Accelerated Particle Swarm Optimization (APSO) is used
to estimate the phase parameters of the synthesized array. The
objective function is formed using a main objective and set of
constraints with penalty factors that measure the violation of each
feasible solution in the search space to each constraint. In this case
the obtained feasible solution is guaranteed to satisfy all the
constraints. Simulation results have shown significant performance
increases and a decreased randomness in the parameter search space
compared to a single objective conventional particle swarm
optimization.
Abstract: Since 1992, year where Hugo de Garis has published
the first paper on Evolvable Hardware (EHW), a period of intense
creativity has followed. It has been actively researched, developed
and applied to various problems. Different approaches have been
proposed that created three main classifications: extrinsic, mixtrinsic
and intrinsic EHW. Each of these solutions has a real interest.
Nevertheless, although the extrinsic evolution generates some
excellent results, the intrinsic systems are not so advanced. This
paper suggests 3 possible solutions to implement the run-time
configuration intrinsic EHW system: FPGA-based Run-Time
Configuration system, JBits-based Run-Time Configuration system
and Multi-board functional-level Run-Time Configuration system.
The main characteristic of the proposed architectures is that they are
implemented on Field Programmable Gate Array. A comparison of
proposed solutions demonstrates that multi-board functional-level
run-time configuration is superior in terms of scalability, flexibility
and the implementation easiness.
Abstract: We address the problem of joint beamforming and multipath channel parameters estimation in Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) communication systems that employ Multiple-Access Interference (MAI) suppression techniques in the uplink (from mobile to base station). Most of the existing schemes rely on time multiplex a training sequence with the user data. In WCDMA, the channel parameters can also be estimated from a code multiplexed common pilot channel (CPICH) that could be corrupted by strong interference resulting in a bad estimate. In this paper, we present new methods to combine interference suppression together with channel estimation when using multiple receiving antennas by using adaptive signal processing techniques. Computer simulation is used to compare between the proposed methods and the existing conventional estimation techniques.
Abstract: The evolutionary design of electronic circuits, or
evolvable hardware, is a discipline that allows the user to
automatically obtain the desired circuit design. The circuit
configuration is under the control of evolutionary algorithms. Several
researchers have used evolvable hardware to design electrical
circuits. Every time that one particular algorithm is selected to carry
out the evolution, it is necessary that all its parameters, such as
mutation rate, population size, selection mechanisms etc. are tuned in
order to achieve the best results during the evolution process. This
paper investigates the abilities of evolution strategy to evolve digital
logic circuits based on programmable logic array structures when
different mutation rates are used. Several mutation rates (fixed and
variable) are analyzed and compared with each other to outline the
most appropriate choice to be used during the evolution of
combinational logic circuits. The experimental results outlined in this
paper are important as they could be used by every researcher who
might need to use the evolutionary algorithm to design digital logic
circuits.
Abstract: Truncated multiplier is a good candidate for digital
signal processing (DSP) applications including finite impulse
response (FIR) and discrete cosine transform (DCT). Through
truncated multiplier a significant reduction in Field Programmable
Gate Array (FPGA) resources can be achieved. This paper presents
for the first time a comparison of resource utilization of Spartan-3AN
and Virtex-5 implementation of standard and truncated multipliers
using Very High Speed Integrated Circuit Hardware Description
Language (VHDL). The Virtex-5 FPGA shows significant
improvement as compared to Spartan-3AN FPGA device. The
Virtex-5 FPGA device shows better performance with a percentage
ratio of number of occupied slices for standard to truncated
multipliers is increased from 40% to 73.86% as compared to Spartan-
3AN is decreased from 68.75% to 58.78%. Results show that the
anomaly in Spartan-3AN FPGA device average connection and
maximum pin delay have been efficiently reduced in Virtex-5 FPGA
device.
Abstract: An evolutionary method whose selection and recombination
operations are based on generalization error-bounds of
support vector machine (SVM) can select a subset of potentially
informative genes for SVM classifier very efficiently [7]. In this
paper, we will use the derivative of error-bound (first-order criteria)
to select and recombine gene features in the evolutionary process,
and compare the performance of the derivative of error-bound with
the error-bound itself (zero-order) in the evolutionary process. We
also investigate several error-bounds and their derivatives to compare
the performance, and find the best criteria for gene selection
and classification. We use 7 cancer-related human gene expression
datasets to evaluate the performance of the zero-order and first-order
criteria of error-bounds. Though both criteria have the same strategy
in theoretically, experimental results demonstrate the best criterion
for microarray gene expression data.
Abstract: A measurement system for pH array sensors is
introduced to increase accuracy, and decrease non-ideal effects
successfully. An array readout circuit reads eight potentiometric
signals at the same time, and obtains an average value. The deviation
value or the extreme value is counteracted and the output voltage is a
relatively stable value. The errors of measuring pH buffer solutions are
decreased obviously with this measurement system, and the non-ideal
effects, drift and hysteresis, are lowered to 1.638mV/hr and 1.118mV,
respectively. The efficiency and stability are better than single sensor.
The whole sensing characteristics are improved.
Abstract: The goal of Gene Expression Analysis is to understand the processes that underlie the regulatory networks and pathways controlling inter-cellular and intra-cellular activities. In recent times microarray datasets are extensively used for this purpose. The scope of such analysis has broadened in recent times towards reconstruction of gene networks and other holistic approaches of Systems Biology. Evolutionary methods are proving to be successful in such problems and a number of such methods have been proposed. However all these methods are based on processing of genotypic information. Towards this end, there is a need to develop evolutionary methods that address phenotypic interactions together with genotypic interactions. We present a novel evolutionary approach, called Phenomic algorithm, wherein the focus is on phenotypic interaction. We use the expression profiles of genes to model the interactions between them at the phenotypic level. We apply this algorithm to the yeast sporulation dataset and show that the algorithm can identify gene networks with relative ease.
Abstract: Pummelo is known to be the largest of all citrus fruits, with expected ratio of 2:1 (w/v) of producing juice, is an attractive opportunity for Malaysia to expand pummelo-s influence and marketability over the international market of juices. The purpose of this study is to identify and quantify the phenolic compounds in two Malaysian varieties of pummelo fruit juice: Ledang (PO55) and Tambun (PO52). Identifications of polyphenols composition were done using High Performance Liquid Chromatography Diode Array Detection (HPLC-DAD). The phenolic compounds that were found in both varieties were hydroxycinnamic acids and flavonones. This study proved that Tambun variety has the highest antioxidant and phenolic compounds in comparison to Ledang variety. However, considerations have to be made to suit consumer-s taste bud and the amount of enzyme needed to clarify the juice for its marketability.