Abstract: In the study of chironomids in Armenia several
species of Orthocladiinae subfamily of Cricotopus genus,
Diamesinae subfamily of Diamesa genus, and Chironominae
subfamily of Chironomus genus, have been identified. In the
Cricotopus genus two sibling species were found, not distinguishable
by larval morphological features, but clearly distinct cytogenetically.
Abstract: Trust and Energy consumption is the most challenging
issue in routing protocol design for Mobile ad hoc networks
(MANETs), since mobile nodes are battery powered and nodes
behaviour are unpredictable. Furthermore replacing and recharging
batteries and making nodes co-operative is often impossible in
critical environments like military applications. In this paper, we
propose a trust based energy aware routing model in MANET.
During route discovery, node with more trust and maximum energy
capacity is selected as a router based on a parameter called
'Reliability'. Route request from the source is accepted by a node
only if its reliability is high. Otherwise, the route request is
discarded. This approach forms a reliable route from source to
destination thus increasing network life time, improving energy
utilization and decreasing number of packet loss during transmission.
Abstract: The main objective of this article is to present the semi-active vibration control using an electro-rheological fluid embedded sandwich structure for a cantilever beam. ER fluid is a smart material, which cause the suspended particles polarize and connect each other to form chain. The stiffness and damping coefficients of the ER fluid can be changed in 10 micro seconds; therefore, ERF is suitable to become the material embedded in the tunable vibration absorber to become a smart absorber. For the ERF smart material embedded structure, the fuzzy control law depends on the experimental expert database and the proposed self-tuning strategy. The electric field is controlled by a CRIO embedded system to implement the real application. This study investigates the different performances using the Type-1 fuzzy and interval Type-2 fuzzy controllers. The Interval type-2 fuzzy control is used to improve the modeling uncertainties for this ERF embedded shock absorber. The self-tuning vibration controllers using Type-1 and Interval Type-2 fuzzy law are implemented to the shock absorber system. Based on the resulting performance, Internal Type-2 fuzzy is better than the traditional Type-1 fuzzy control for this vibration control system.
Abstract: The aim of this study is to discuss the relationship between tourist awareness of environmental issues and their own recreational behaviors in the Taipei Guandu Wetland. A total of 392 questionnaires were gathered for data analysis using descriptive statistics, t-testing, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and least significant difference (LSD) post hoc comparisons. The results showed that most of the visitors there enjoying the beautiful scenery are 21 to 30 years old with a college education. The means and standard deviations indicate that tourists express a positive degree of cognition of environmental issues and recreational behaviors. They suggest that polluting the environment is harmful to the natural ecosystem and that the natural resources of ecotourism are fragile, as well as expressing a high degree of recognition of the need to protect wetlands. Most of respondents are cognizant of the regulations proposed by the Guandu Wetland administration which asks that users exercise self-control and follow recommended guidelines when traveling the wetland. There were significant differences in the degree of cognition related to the variables of age, number of visits and reasons for visiting. We found that most respondents with relatively high levels of education would like to learn more about the wetland and are supportive of its conservation.
Abstract: The need for reputation assessment is particularly strong in peer-to-peer (P2P) systems because the peers' personal site autonomy is amplified by the inherent technological decentralization of the environment. However, the decentralization notion makes the problem of designing a peer-to-peer based reputation assessment substantially harder in P2P networks than in centralized settings.Existing reputation systems tackle the reputation assessment process in an ad-hoc manner. There is no systematic and coherent way to derive measures and analyze the current reputation systems. In this paper, we propose a reputation assessment process and use it to classify the existing reputation systems. Simulation experiments are conducted and focused on the different methods in selecting the recommendation sources and retrieving the recommendations. These two phases can contribute significantly to the overall performance due to communication cost and coverage.
Abstract: Increased physical fitness participation has been
paralleled by increasedoveruse injuries such as insertional Achilles
tendinosis (AT). Treatment has provided inconsistentresults. The use
of extracorporeal shockwave therapy (ECSWT) offers a new
treatment consideration.The purpose of this study was to assess the
effects of ECSWTon pain, function, range of motion (ROM), joint
mobility and strength in patients with AT. Thirty subjects were
treated with ECSWT and measures were takenbefore and three
months after treatment. There was significant differences in visual
analog scale (VAS) scores for pain at rest (p=0.002); after activity
(p= 0.0001); overall improvement(p=0.0001); Lower Extremity
Functional Scale (LEFS) scores (p=0.002); dorsiflexion range of
motion (ROM) (p=0.0001); plantarflexion strength (p=0.025);
talocrural joint anterior glide (p=0.046); and subtalar joint medial and
lateral glide (p=0.025).ECSWT offers a new intervention that may
limit the progression of the disorder and the long term healthcare
costs associated with AT.
Abstract: Traffic flow in adverse weather conditions have been investigated in this study for general traffic, week day and week end traffic. The empirical evidence is strong in support of the view that rainfall affects macroscopic traffic flow parameters. Data generated from a basic highway section along J5 in Johor Bahru, Malaysia was synchronized with 161 rain events over a period of three months. This revealed a 4.90%, 6.60% and 11.32% reduction in speed for light rain, moderate rain and heavy rain conditions respectively. The corresponding capacity reductions in the three rainfall regimes are 1.08% for light rain, 6.27% for moderate rain and 29.25% for heavy rain. In the week day traffic, speed drops of 8.1% and 16.05% were observed for light and heavy conditions. The moderate rain condition speed increased by 12.6%. The capacity drops for week day traffic are 4.40% for light rain, 9.77% for moderate rain and 45.90% for heavy rain. The weekend traffic indicated speed difference between the dry condition and the three rainy conditions as 6.70% for light rain, 8.90% for moderate rain and 13.10% for heavy rain. The capacity changes computed for the weekend traffic were 0.20% in light rain, 13.90% in moderate rain and 16.70% in heavy rain. No traffic instabilities were observed throughout the observation period and the capacities reported for each rain condition were below the norain condition capacity. Rainfall has tremendous impact on traffic flow and this may have implications for shock wave propagation.
Abstract: Nowadays, new home appliances and office appliances
have been developed that communicate with users through the
Internet, for remote monitor and remote control. However, developments
and sales of these new appliances are just started, then,
many products in our houses and offices do not have these useful
functions. In few years, we add these new functions to the outlet,
it means multifunctional electrical power socket plug adapter. The
outlet measure power consumption of connecting appliances, and it
can switch power supply to connecting appliances, too. Using this
outlet, power supply of old appliances can be control and monitor.
And we developed the interface system using web browser to operate
it from users[1]. But, this system need to set up LAN cables between
outlets and so on. It is not convenience that cables around rooms. In
this paper, we develop the system that use wireless mobile ad hoc
network instead of wired LAN to communicate with the outlets.
Abstract: In the paper the results of calculations of the dynamic
response of a multi-storey reinforced concrete building to a strong
mining shock originated from the main region of mining activity in
Poland (i.e. the Legnica-Glogow Copper District) are presented. The
representative time histories of accelerations registered in three
directions were used as ground motion data in calculations of the
dynamic response of the structure. Two variants of a numerical model
were applied: the model including only structural elements of the
building and the model including both structural and non-structural
elements (i.e. partition walls and ventilation ducts made of brick). It
turned out that non-structural elements of multi-storey RC buildings
have a small impact of about 10 % on natural frequencies of these
structures. It was also proved that the dynamic response of building
to mining shock obtained in case of inclusion of all non-structural
elements in the numerical model is about 20 % smaller than in case
of consideration of structural elements only. The principal stresses
obtained in calculations of dynamic response of multi-storey building
to strong mining shock are situated on the level of about 30% of
values obtained from static analysis (dead load).
Abstract: Oxidative stress is considered to be the cause for onset
and the progression of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and
complications including neuropathy. It is a deleterious process that
can be an important mediator of damage to cell structures: protein,
lipids and DNA. Data suggest that in patients with diabetes and
diabetic neuropathy DNA repair is impaired, which prevents effective
removal of lesions. Objective: The aim of our study was to evaluate
the association of the hOGG1 (326 Ser/Cys) and XRCC1 (194
Arg/Trp, 399 Arg/Gln) gene polymorphisms whose protein is
involved in the BER pathway with DNA repair efficiency in patients
with diabetes type 2 and diabetic neuropathy compared to the healthy
subjects. Genotypes were determined by PCR-RFLP analysis in 385
subjects, including 117 with type 2 diabetes, 56 with diabetic
neuropathy and 212 with normal glucose metabolism. The
polymorphisms studied include codon 326 of hOGG1 and 194, 399
of XRCC1 in the base excision repair (BER) genes. Comet assay was
carried out using peripheral blood lymphocytes from the patients and
controls. This test enabled the evaluation of DNA damage in cells
exposed to hydrogen peroxide alone and in the combination with the
endonuclease III (Nth). The results of the analysis of polymorphism
were statistically examination by calculating the odds ratio (OR) and
their 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) using the ¤ç2-tests. Our data
indicate that patients with diabetes mellitus type 2 (including those
with neuropathy) had higher frequencies of the XRCC1 399Arg/Gln
polymorphism in homozygote (GG) (OR: 1.85 [95% CI: 1.07-3.22],
P=0.3) and also increased frequency of 399Gln (G) allele (OR: 1.38
[95% CI: 1.03-1.83], P=0.3). No relation to other polymorphisms
with increased risk of diabetes or diabetic neuropathy. In T2DM
patients complicated by neuropathy, there was less efficient repair of
oxidative DNA damage induced by hydrogen peroxide in both the
presence and absence of the Nth enzyme. The results of our study
suggest that the XRCC1 399 Arg/Gln polymorphism is a significant
risk factor of T2DM in Polish population. Obtained data suggest a
decreased efficiency of DNA repair in cells from patients with
diabetes and neuropathy may be associated with oxidative stress.
Additionally, patients with neuropathy are characterized by even
greater sensitivity to oxidative damage than patients with diabetes,
which suggests participation of free radicals in the pathogenesis of
neuropathy.
Abstract: A well balanced numerical scheme based on
stationary waves for shallow water flows with arbitrary topography
has been introduced by Thanh et al. [18]. The scheme was
constructed so that it maintains equilibrium states and tests indicate
that it is stable and fast. Applying the well-balanced scheme for the
one-dimensional shallow water equations, we study the early shock
waves propagation towards the Phuket coast in Southern Thailand
during a hypothetical tsunami. The initial tsunami wave is generated
in the deep ocean with the strength that of Indonesian tsunami of
2004.
Abstract: The main aim is to perform mutational analysis of CTLA4 gene Exon 1 in SLE patients. A total of 61 SLE patients fulfilling “American College of Rheumatology (ACR) criteria" and 61 controls were enrolled in this study. The region of CTLA4 gene exon 1 was amplified by using Step-down PCR technique. Extracted DNA of band 354 bp was sequenced to analyze mutations in the exon-1 of CTLA-4 gene. Further, protein sequences were identified from nucleotide sequences of CTLA4 Exon 1 by using Expasy software and through Blast P software it was found that CTLA4 protein sequences of Pakistani SLE patients were similar to that of Chinese SLE population. No variations were found after patients sequences were compared with that of the control sequence. Furthermore it was found that CTLA4 protein sequences of Pakistani SLE patients were similar to that of Chinese SLE population. Thus CTLA4 gene may not be responsible for an autoimmune disease SLE.
Abstract: Hypersonic flows around spatial vehicles during their
reentry phase in planetary atmospheres are characterized by intense
aerothermal phenomena. The aim of this work is to analyze high
temperature flows around an axisymmetric blunt body taking into
account chemical and vibrational non-equilibrium for air mixture
species. For this purpose, a finite volume methodology is employed
to determine the supersonic flow parameters around the axisymmetric
blunt body, especially at the stagnation point and along the wall of
spacecraft for several altitudes. This allows the capture shock wave
before a blunt body placed in supersonic free stream. The numerical
technique uses the Flux Vector Splitting method of Van Leer. Here,
adequate time stepping parameter, along with CFL coefficient and
mesh size level are selected to ensure numerical convergence, sought
with an order of 10-8
Abstract: Task of object localization is one of the major
challenges in creating intelligent transportation. Unfortunately, in
densely built-up urban areas, localization based on GPS only
produces a large error, or simply becomes impossible. New
opportunities arise for the localization due to the rapidly emerging
concept of a wireless ad-hoc network. Such network, allows
estimating potential distance between these objects measuring
received signal level and construct a graph of distances in which
nodes are the localization objects, and edges - estimates of the
distances between pairs of nodes. Due to the known coordinates of
individual nodes (anchors), it is possible to determine the location of
all (or part) of the remaining nodes of the graph. Moreover, road
map, available in digital format can provide localization routines
with valuable additional information to narrow node location search.
However, despite abundance of well-known algorithms for solving
the problem of localization and significant research efforts, there are
still many issues that currently are addressed only partially. In this
paper, we propose localization approach based on the graph mapped
distances on the digital road map data basis. In fact, problem is
reduced to distance graph embedding into the graph representing area
geo location data. It makes possible to localize objects, in some cases
even if only one reference point is available. We propose simple
embedding algorithm and sample implementation as spatial queries
over sensor network data stored in spatial database, allowing
employing effectively spatial indexing, optimized spatial search
routines and geometry functions.
Abstract: Due to increased number of terrorist attacks in recent years, loads induced by explosions need to be incorporated in building designs. For safer performance of a structure, its foundation should have sufficient strength and stability. Therefore, prior to any reconstruction or rehabilitation of a building subjected to blast, it is important to examine adverse effects on the foundation caused by blast induced ground shocks. This paper evaluates the effects of a buried explosion on a pile foundation. It treats the dynamic response of the pile in saturated sand, using explicit dynamic nonlinear finite element software LS-DYNA. The blast induced wave propagation in the soil and the horizontal deformation of pile are presented and the results are discussed. Further, a parametric study is carried out to evaluate the effect of varying the explosive shape on the pile response. This information can be used to evaluate the vulnerability of piled foundations to credible blast events as well as develop guidance for their design.
Abstract: Formaldehyde is the illegal chemical substance used
for food preservation in fish and vegetable. It can promote
carcinogenesis. Superoxide dismutases are the important
antioxidative enzymes that catalyze the dismutation of superoxide
anion into oxygen and hydrogen peroxide. The resultant level of
oxidative stress in formaldehyde-treated lymphocytes was
investigated. The formaldehyde concentrations of 0, 20, 40, 60, 80
and 120μmol/L were treated in human lymphocytes for 12 hours.
After 12 treated hours, the superoxide dismutase activity change was
measured in formaldehyde-treated lymphocytes. The results showed
that the formaldehyde concentrations of 60, 80 and 120μmol/L
significantly decreased superoxide dismutase activities in
lymphocytes (P < 0.05). The change of superoxide dismutase
activity in formaldehyde-treated lymphocytes may be the biomarker
for detect cellular injury, such as damage to DNA, due to
formaldehyde exposure.
Abstract: To evaluate genetic variation of wheat (Triticum aestivum) affected by heat and drought stress on eight Australian wheat genotypes that are parents of Doubled Haploid (HD) mapping populations at the vegetative stage, the water stress experiment was conducted at 65% field capacity in growth room. Heat stress experiment was conducted in the research field under irrigation over summer. Result show that water stress decreased dry shoot weight and RWC but increased osmolarity and means of Fv/Fm values in all varieties except for Krichauff. Krichauff and Kukri had the maximum RWC under drought stress. Trident variety was shown maximum WUE, osmolarity (610 mM/Kg), dry mater, quantum yield and Fv/Fm 0.815 under water stress condition. However, the recovery of quantum yield was apparent between 4 to 7 days after stress in all varieties. Nevertheless, increase in water stress after that lead to strong decrease in quantum yield. There was a genetic variation for leaf pigments content among varieties under heat stress. Heat stress decreased significantly the total chlorophyll content that measured by SPAD. Krichauff had maximum value of Anthocyanin content (2.978 A/g FW), chlorophyll a+b (2.001 mg/g FW) and chlorophyll a (1.502 mg/g FW). Maximum value of chlorophyll b (0.515 mg/g FW) and Carotenoids (0.234 mg/g FW) content belonged to Kukri. The quantum yield of all varieties decreased significantly, when the weather temperature increased from 28 ÔùªC to 36 ÔùªC during the 6 days. However, the recovery of quantum yield was apparent after 8th day in all varieties. The maximum decrease and recovery in quantum yield was observed in Krichauff. Drought and heat tolerant and moderately tolerant wheat genotypes were included Trident, Krichauff, Kukri and RAC875. Molineux, Berkut and Excalibur were clustered into most sensitive and moderately sensitive genotypes. Finally, the results show that there was a significantly genetic variation among the eight varieties that were studied under heat and water stress.
Abstract: Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) are emerging
because of the developments in wireless communication technology and miniaturization of the hardware. WSN consists of a large number of low-cost, low-power, multifunctional sensor nodes to monitor physical conditions, such as temperature, sound, vibration, pressure,
motion, etc. The MAC protocol to be used in the sensor networks must be energy efficient and this should aim at conserving the energy during its operation. In this paper, with the focus of analyzing the
MAC protocols used in wireless Adhoc networks to WSN, simulation
experiments were conducted in Global Mobile Simulator
(GloMoSim) software. Number of packets sent by regular nodes, and received by sink node in different deployment strategies, total energy
spent, and the network life time have been chosen as the metric for comparison. From the results of simulation, it is evident that the IEEE 802.11 protocol performs better compared to CSMA and MACA protocols.
Abstract: The agricultural organic farming is different from
conventional farming in a way that is aimed at providing a balanced
and constructive action in agricultural systems. With the increase in
intensive agriculture, undesirable changes were being observed in
ecosystems with irreparable damage being caused to the natural
equilibrium. This is the reason for the increasing interest in organic
farming as an environment friendly agricultural production method.
In the present work three red fruits produced in organic farming were
analyzed, namely raspberry, gooseberry and blueberry. The samples
were harvested in a local farm when at plain maturation. The results
obtained allowed to conclude that the blueberry contained higher
amounts of phenolic compounds, total tannins and total anthocyanins
than raspberry and gooseberry. Furthermore, the HPLC analysis
allowed to identify monomeric anthocyanins and phenolic acids in
the three fruits studied.
Abstract: The electrical substation components are often subject to degradation due to over-voltage or over-current, caused by a short circuit or a lightning. A particular interest is given to the circuit breaker, regarding the importance of its function and its dangerous failure. This component degrades gradually due to the use, and it is also subject to the shock process resulted from the stress of isolating the fault when a short circuit occurs in the system. In this paper, based on failure mechanisms developments, the wear out of the circuit breaker contacts is modeled. The aim of this work is to evaluate its reliability and consequently its residual lifetime. The shock process is based on two random variables such as: the arrival of shocks and their magnitudes. The arrival of shocks was modeled using homogeneous Poisson process (HPP). By simulation, the dates of short-circuit arrivals were generated accompanied with their magnitudes. The same principle of simulation is applied to the amount of cumulative wear out contacts. The objective reached is to find the formulation of the wear function depending on the number of solicitations of the circuit breaker.