ALBERT

Description: Quantum-dot cellular automata (QCA) are nanoscale digital logic constructs that use electrons in arrays of quantum dots to carry out binary operations. In this paper, a basic building block for QCA will be proposed. The proposed basic building block can be customized to implement classical gates, such as XOR and XNOR gates, and reversible gates, such as CNOT and Toffoli gates, with less cell count and/or better latency than other proposed designs.

Description: This study investigated the effect of CO2 laser irradiation on the inhibition of secondary caries on root surfaces adjacent to glass ionomer cement (GIC) or composite resin (CR) restorations. 40 dental blocks were divided into 4 groups: G1 (negative control): cavity preparation + adhesive restoration with CR; G2: (positive control) cavity preparation + GIC restoration; G3: equal to group 1 + CO2 laser with 6 J/cm2; G4: equal to group 2 + CO2 laser. The blocks were submitted to thermal and pH cycling. Dental demineralization around restorations was quantified using microhardness analyses and Light-Induced Fluorescence (QLF). The groups showed no significant differences in mineral loss at depths between 20 μm and 40 μm. At 60 μm, G2 and G3 ≠ G1, but G4 = G1, G2 and G3. At 80 μm, G4 ≠ G1, and at 100 μm, G4 = G2 = G1. At 140 and 220 μm, G2, G3, and G4 = G1. The averages obtained using QFL in groups 1, 2, 3, and 4 were 0.637, 0.162, 0.095, and 0.048, respectively. QLF and microhardness analyses showed that CO2 laser irradiation reduced mineral loss around the CR restorations but that it did not increase the anticariogenic effect of GIC restorations.

Description: The aim of this study was to evaluate the stress distribution of monocortical and bicortical implant placement of external hexagon connection in the anterior region of the maxilla by 3D finite element analysis (FEA). 3D models were simulated to represent a bone block of anterior region of the maxilla containing an implant (4.0 × 10.0 mm) and an implant-supported cemented metalloceramic crown of the central incisor. Different techniques were tested (monocortical, bicortical, and bicortical associated with nasal floor elevation). FEA was performed in FEMAP/NeiNastran software using loads of 178 N at 0°, 30°, and 60° in relation to implant long axis. The von Mises, maximum principal stress, and displacement maps were plotted for evaluation. Similar stress patterns were observed for all models. Oblique loads increased the stress concentration on fixation screws and in the cervical area of the implants and bone around them. Bicortical technique showed less movement tendency in the implant and its components. Cortical bone of apical region showed increase of stress concentration for bicortical techniques. Within the limitations of this study, oblique loading increased the stress concentrations for all techniques. Moreover, bicortical techniques showed the best biomechanical behavior compared with monocortical technique in the anterior maxillary area.

Description: We consider the optimal dividends problem for a company whose cash reserves follow a general Lévy process with certain positive jumps and arbitrary negative jumps. The objective is to find a policy which maximizes the expected discounted dividends until the time of ruin. Under appropriate conditions, we use some recent results in the theory of potential analysis of subordinators to obtain the convexity properties of probability of ruin. We present conditions under which the optimal dividend strategy, among all admissible ones, takes the form of a barrier strategy.

Description: The influence of waste cooking oil (WCO) on the performance characteristics of asphaltic materials indigenous to Trinidad, namely, Trinidad Lake Asphalt (TLA), Trinidad Petroleum Bitumen (TPB), and TLA : TPB (50 : 50) blend, was investigated to deduce the applicability of the WCO as a performance enhancer for the base asphalt. The rheological properties of complex modulus () and phase angle () were measured for modified base asphalt blends containing up to 10% WCO. The results of rheology studies demonstrated that the incremental addition of WCO to the three parent binders resulted in incremental decreases in the rutting resistance (decrease in values) and increases in the fatigue cracking resistance (decrease in value). The fatigue cracking resistance and rutting resistance for the TLA : TPB (50 : 50) blends were between those of the blends containing pure TLA and TPB. As operating temperature increased, an increase in the resistance to fatigue cracking and a decrease in the rutting resistance were observed for all of the WCO modified asphaltic blends. This study demonstrated the capability to create customized asphalt-WCO blends to suit special applications and highlights the potential for WCO to be used as an environmentally attractive option for improving the use of Trinidad asphaltic materials.

Description: The effectiveness of carbohydrate addition and the use of ultrasonication as a pretreatment for the mesophilic anaerobic digestion of saline aquacultural sludge was assessed. Analyses were conducted using an anaerobic sequencing batch reactor (ASBR), which included stopped gas production attributed to the saline inhibition. After increasing the C : N ratio, gas production was observed, and the total chemical oxygen demand (TCOD) removal efficiency increased from 75% to 80%. The TCOD removal efficiency of the sonication period was approximately 85%, compared to 75% for the untreated waste. Ultrasonication of aquaculture sludge was also found to enhance the gas production rate and the TCOD removal efficiency. The average volatile fatty acid (VFA) to alkalinity ratios ranged from 0.1 to 0.05, confirming the stability of the digesters. Furthermore, soluble chemical oxygen demand (SCOD), VFA, and concentrations increased in the effluents. There was a 114% greater gas generation during the ultrasonication period, with an average production of 0.08 g COD/L·day−1.

Description: Objectives. To estimate the prevalence of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) deficiency and its determinants among older adults in Ecuador. Methods. 25(OH)D deficiency and insufficiency prevalence rates were examined among participants in the National Survey of Health, Wellbeing, and Aging. Logistic regression models were used to evaluate demographic characteristics associated with 25(OH)D deficiency. Results. Of 2,374 participants with a mean age of 71.0 (8.3) years, 25(OH)D insufficiency and deficiency were present in 67.8% (95% CI, 65.3–70.2) and 21.6% (95% CI, 19.5–23.7) of older adults in Ecuador, respectively. Women (OR, 3.19; 95% CI, 3.15–3.22), self-reported race as Indigenous (OR, 2.75; 95% CI, 2.70–2.80), and residents in rural (OR, 4.49; 95% CI, 4.40–4.58) and urban (OR, 2.74; 95% CI, 2.69–2.80) areas of the Andes Mountains region were variables significantly associated with 25(OH)D deficiency among older adults. Conclusions. Despite abundant sunlight throughout the year in Ecuador, 25(OH)D deficiency was significantly prevalent among older women, Indigenous subjects, and subjects residing in the Andes Mountains region of the country. The present findings may assist public health authorities to implement policies of vitamin D supplementation among older adults at risk for this condition.

Description: Unfortunately, the major group of the systems in industry has nonlinear behavior and control of such processes with conventional control approaches with fixed parameters causes problems and suboptimal or unstable control results. An adaptive control is one way to how we can cope with nonlinearity of the system. This contribution compares classic adaptive control and its modification with Wiener system. This configuration divides nonlinear controller into the dynamic linear part and the static nonlinear part. The dynamic linear part is constructed with the use of polynomial synthesis together with the pole-placement method and the spectral factorization. The static nonlinear part uses static analysis of the controlled plant for introducing the mathematical nonlinear description of the relation between the controlled output and the change of the control input. Proposed controller is tested by the simulations on the mathematical model of the continuous stirred-tank reactor with cooling in the jacket as a typical nonlinear system.

Description: The impact of the classification method and features selection for the speech emotion recognition accuracy is discussed in this paper. Selecting the correct parameters in combination with the classifier is an important part of reducing the complexity of system computing. This step is necessary especially for systems that will be deployed in real-time applications. The reason for the development and improvement of speech emotion recognition systems is wide usability in nowadays automatic voice controlled systems. Berlin database of emotional recordings was used in this experiment. Classification accuracy of artificial neural networks, k-nearest neighbours, and Gaussian mixture model is measured considering the selection of prosodic, spectral, and voice quality features. The purpose was to find an optimal combination of methods and group of features for stress detection in human speech. The research contribution lies in the design of the speech emotion recognition system due to its accuracy and efficiency.

Description: The ever expanding communication requirements in today’s world demand extensive and efficient network systems with equally efficient and reliable security features integrated for safe, confident, and secured communication and data transfer. Providing effective security protocols for any network environment, therefore, assumes paramount importance. Attempts are made continuously for designing more efficient and dynamic network intrusion detection models. In this work, an approach based on Hotelling’s T2 method, a multivariate statistical analysis technique, has been employed for intrusion detection, especially in network environments. Components such as preprocessing, multivariate statistical analysis, and attack detection have been incorporated in developing the multivariate Hotelling’s T2 statistical model and necessary profiles have been generated based on the T-square distance metrics. With a threshold range obtained using the central limit theorem, observed traffic profiles have been classified either as normal or attack types. Performance of the model, as evaluated through validation and testing using KDD Cup’99 dataset, has shown very high detection rates for all classes with low false alarm rates. Accuracy of the model presented in this work, in comparison with the existing models, has been found to be much better.

Description: Burst contention is a major problem in the Optical Burst Switching (OBS) networks. Due to inadequate contention resolution techniques, the burst loss is prominent in OBS. In order to resolve contention fiber delay lines, wavelength converters, deflection routing, burst segmentation, and retransmission are used. Each one has its own limitations. In this paper, a new hybrid scheme is proposed which combines buffering and retransmission, which increases the mean number of bursts processed in the system. In this hybrid method, retransmission with controllable arrival and uncontrollable arrival is analyzed. Normally all the bursts reach the first hop and few of them go for second hop to reach destination. After all the bursts reach the destination the server may go for maintenance activity or wait for the arrival of next burst. We model it as a batch arrival single server retrial queue with buffer. Numerical results are analyzed to show the mean number of bursts processed in the system with uncontrollable arrival and controllable arrivals.

Description: Author(s): Dominic W. Berry, Mankei Tsang, Michael J. W. Hall, and Howard M. Wiseman Measurement uncertainty is fundamental to all fields of science. The lower limit on measurement uncertainty for an optical signal composed of multiple entangled modes is analytically determined. [Phys. Rev. X 5, 031018] Published Tue Aug 18, 2015

Description: Author(s): Kay Brandner, Keiji Saito, and Udo Seifert Heat engines translate thermal energy into useful mechanical work. New results show how the power and efficiency of miniaturized heat engines are related, which paves the way for studies of even smaller systems that experience quantum effects. [Phys. Rev. X 5, 031019] Published Wed Aug 19, 2015

Description: Author(s): T. Watashige, Y. Tsutsumi, T. Hanaguri, Y. Kohsaka, S. Kasahara, A. Furusaki, M. Sigrist, C. Meingast, T. Wolf, H. v. Löhneysen, T. Shibauchi, and Y. Matsuda Advanced imaging and spectroscopy techniques make it possible to investigate electronic states in superconductors. Scanning tunneling microscopy shows that time-reversal symmetry is broken at the crystallographic boundaries of superconducting FeSe. [Phys. Rev. X 5, 031022] Published Fri Aug 21, 2015

Description: Author(s): T. Marchenko, S. Carniato, L. Journel, R. Guillemin, E. Kawerk, M. Žitnik, M. Kavčič, K. Bučar, R. Bohinc, M. Petric, V. Vaz da Cruz, F. Gel’mukhanov, and M. Simon X-ray radiation impinging on molecules has many medical applications. X-ray-induced electron dynamics in carbon disulfide is studied in order to probe nuclear and electronic degrees of freedom. [Phys. Rev. X 5, 031021] Published Thu Aug 20, 2015

Description: The goal of General Game Playing (GGP) has been to develop computer programs that can perform well across various game types. It is natural for human game players to transfer knowledge from games they already know how to play to other similar games. GGP research attempts to design systems that work well across different game types, including unknown new games. In this review, we present a survey of recent advances (2011 to 2014) in GGP for both traditional games and video games. It is notable that research on GGP has been expanding into modern video games. Monte-Carlo Tree Search and its enhancements have been the most influential techniques in GGP for both research domains. Additionally, international competitions have become important events that promote and increase GGP research. Recently, a video GGP competition was launched. In this survey, we review recent progress in the most challenging research areas of Artificial Intelligence (AI) related to universal game playing.

Description: Author(s): Yu Rim Lim, Ji-Hyun Kim, Seong Jun Park, Gil-Suk Yang, Sanggeun Song, Suk-Kyu Chang, Nam Ki Lee, and Jaeyoung Sung Chemical fluctuations within cells affect biological functioning. An accurate mathematical theory now permits a quantitative understanding of intracellular chemical fluctuations and their impact on the probabilistic behaviors of cells. [Phys. Rev. X 5, 031014] Published Mon Aug 10, 2015

Description: Author(s): Johannes Zeiher, Peter Schauß, Sebastian Hild, Tommaso Macrì, Immanuel Bloch, and Christian Gross Light-matter coupling is an ongoing investigation in modern physics and is expected to play a role in quantum information applications. Using single-atom-controlled samples of ultracold rubidium-87 coupled to Rydberg states, scientists show that many-body systems of various sizes can be coherently manipulated as a single “superatom.” [Phys. Rev. X 5, 031015] Published Wed Aug 12, 2015

Description: Quantifying the effects of nutrient additions on soil microbial respiration () and its contribution to soil respiration () are of great importance for accurate assessment ecosystem carbon (C) flux. Nitrogen (N) addition either alone (coded as LN and HN) or in combination with phosphorus (P) (coded as LN + P and HN + P) were manipulated in a semiarid alpine meadow on the Tibetan Plateau since 2008. Either LN or HN did not affect , while LN + P enhanced during peak growing periods, but HN + P did not affect . Nutrient addition also significantly affected , and the correlations of with climatic factors varied with years. Soil water content (Sw) was the main factor controlling the variations of . During the years with large rainfall variations, was negatively correlated with Sw, while, in years with even rainfall, was positively correlated with Sw. Meanwhile, in N + P treatments the controlling effects of climatic factors on were more significant than those in CK. Our results indicate that the sensitivity of soil microbes to climatic factors is regulated by nutrient enrichment. The divergent effects of Sw on suggest that precipitation distribution patterns are key factors controlling soil microbial activities and ecosystem C fluxes in semiarid alpine meadow ecosystems.

Description: Recycling of the semiconductor material copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) is important to ensure a future supply of indium and gallium, which are relatively rare and therefore expensive elements. As a continuation of our previous work, where we recycled high purity selenium from CIGS waste materials, we now show that copper and indium can be recycled by electrodeposition from hydrochloric acid solutions of dissolved selenium-depleted material. Suitable potentials for the reduction of copper and indium were determined to be −0.5 V and −0.9 V (versus the Ag/AgCl reference electrode), respectively, using cyclic voltammetry. Electrodeposition of first copper and then indium from a solution containing the dissolved residue from the selenium separation and ammonium chloride in 1 M HCl gave a copper yield of 100.1 ± 0.5% and an indium yield of 98.1 ± 2.5%. The separated copper and indium fractions contained no significant contamination of the other elements. Gallium remained in solution together with a small amount of indium after the separation of copper and indium and has to be recovered by an alternative method since electrowinning from the chloride-rich acid solution was not effective.

Description: The objective of this study was to evaluate the dynamics of tocopherols in cotyledons and radicles from sunflower seeds with high and low total tocopherol content, mainly in the -tocopherol form, and from seeds with increased proportions of -, -, and -tocopherol, both under dark and light conditions. Tocopherol content was measured every 24 h from 1 to 12 days after sowing. In all cases, the content of individual tocopherol forms in the cotyledons and radicles was reduced along the sampling period, which was more pronounced under light conditions. The presence of light had a slightly greater effect on - and -tocopherol than on - and -tocopherol. A marked light effect was also observed on total tocopherol content, with light promoting the reduction of tocopherol content in cotyledons and radicles. The study revealed only slight differences in the patterns of tocopherol losses in lines with different tocopherol profiles, both under dark and light conditions, which suggested that the partial replacement of -tocopherol by other tocopherol forms had no great impact on the protection against oxidative damage in seedlings.

Description: Author(s): V. Peano, C. Brendel, M. Schmidt, and F. Marquardt In everyday life, if sound propagates from one location to another, it can propagate backwards just as easily. However, theorists show that it is possible to harness the radiation pressure interaction between light and matter to produce unidirectional sound propagation. [Phys. Rev. X 5, 031011] Published Tue Jul 28, 2015

Description: Objectives. To evaluate the influence of dentine on the pH of different medications in standardized simulated canals. Materials and Methods. Forty resin blocks were divided into groups with and without dentine powder, as follows: 2% chlorhexidine gel; 2% chlorhexidine gel associated with calcium hydroxide PA; calcium hydroxide PA delivered in propylene glycol 600; and NPG delivered in distilled water. The dentine powder was obtained from the root dentine of bovine teeth and added to the medications. The simulated canals were placed in containers with 1.5 mL of deionized water and pH was monitored in multiple intervals, up to 30 days. The mean pH values were calculated and submitted to statistical analysis using paired Student’s t-test and ANOVA complemented by the Tukey test (). Results. There was no statistical difference between the groups with and without dentine powder (). The pH values of calcium hydroxide were significantly higher than those of NPG in the first 24 hours (). After 7 days, both behaved in a similar manner. Conclusion. The addition of dentine powder to the medications evaluated did not alter the pH of the external solution in any of the time points tested.

Description: This paper presents a systematic design methodology for neural-network- (NN-) based secure communications in multiple time-delay chaotic (MTDC) systems with optimal performance and cryptography. On the basis of the Improved Genetic Algorithm (IGA), which is demonstrated to have better performance than that of a traditional GA, a model-based fuzzy controller is then synthesized to stabilize the MTDC systems. A fuzzy controller is synthesized to not only realize the exponential synchronization, but also achieve optimal performance by minimizing the disturbance attenuation level. Furthermore, the error of the recovered message is stated by using the -shift cipher and key. Finally, a numerical example with simulations is given to demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach.

Description: Indium oxide (In2O3) thin films annealed at various annealing temperatures were prepared by using spin-coating method for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The objective of this research is to enhance the photovoltaic conversion efficiency in In2O3 thin films by finding the optimum annealing temperature and also to study the reason for high and low performance in the annealed In2O3 thin films. The structural and morphological characteristics of In2O3 thin films were studied via XRD patterns, atomic force microscopy (AFM), field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), EDX sampling, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The annealing treatment modified the nanostructures of the In2O3 thin films viewed through FESEM images. The In2O3-450°C-based DSSC exhibited better photovoltaic performance than the other annealed thin films of 1.54%. The electron properties were studied by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) unit. The In2O3-450°C thin films provide larger diffusion rate, low recombination effect, and longer electron lifetime, thus enhancing the performance of DSSC.

Description: Web Crawling has acquired tremendous significance in recent times and it is aptly associated with the substantial development of the World Wide Web. Web Search Engines face new challenges due to the availability of vast amounts of web documents, thus making the retrieved results less applicable to the analysers. However, recently, Web Crawling solely focuses on obtaining the links of the corresponding documents. Today, there exist various algorithms and software which are used to crawl links from the web which has to be further processed for future use, thereby increasing the overload of the analyser. This paper concentrates on crawling the links and retrieving all information associated with them to facilitate easy processing for other uses. In this paper, firstly the links are crawled from the specified uniform resource locator (URL) using a modified version of Depth First Search Algorithm which allows for complete hierarchical scanning of corresponding web links. The links are then accessed via the source code and its metadata such as title, keywords, and description are extracted. This content is very essential for any type of analyser work to be carried on the Big Data obtained as a result of Web Crawling.

Description: Initial errors in weather prediction grow in time and, as they become larger, their growth slows down and then stops at an asymptotic value. Time of reaching this saturation point represents the limit of predictability. This paper studies the asymptotic values and time limits in a chaotic atmospheric model for five initial errors, using ensemble prediction method (model’s data) as well as error approximation by quadratic and logarithmic hypothesis and their modifications. We show that modified hypotheses approximate the model’s time limits better, but not without serious disadvantages. We demonstrate how hypotheses can be further improved to achieve better match of time limits with the model. We also show that quadratic hypothesis approximates the model’s asymptotic value best and that, after improvement, it also approximates the model’s time limits better for almost all initial errors and time lengths.

Description: Usually, a hydrometeorological information system is faced with great data flows, but the data levels are often excessive, depending on the observed region of the water. The paper presents advanced buoy communication technologies based on multiagent interaction and data exchange between several monitoring system nodes. The proposed management of buoy communication is based on a clustering algorithm, which enables the performance of the hydrometeorological information system to be enhanced. The experiment is based on the design and analysis of the inexpensive but reliable Baltic Sea autonomous monitoring network (buoys), which would be able to continuously monitor and collect temperature, waviness, and other required data. The proposed approach of multiagent based buoy communication enables all the data from the costal-based station to be monitored with limited transition speed by setting different tasks for the agent-based buoy system according to the clustering information.

Description: The astronauts on board the International Space Station (ISS) are only the most visible part of a much larger team engaged around the clock in the performance of science and technical activities in space. The bulk of such team is scattered around the globe in five major Mission Control Centers (MCCs), as well as in a number of smaller payload operations centres. Communication between the crew in space and the flight controllers at those locations is an essential element and one of the key drivers to efficient space operations. Such communication can be carried out in different forms, depending on available technical assets and the selected operational approach for the activity at hand. This paper focuses on operational voice communication and provides a quantitative overview of the balance achieved in the Columbus program between collaborative space/ground operations and autonomous on-board activity execution. An interpretation of the current situation is provided, together with a description of potential future approaches for deep space exploration missions.

Description: Left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) constitutes an important physiological parameter for the assessment of cardiac function, particularly in the settings of coronary artery disease and heart failure. This study explores the use of routinely and easily acquired variables in the intensive care unit (ICU) to predict severely depressed LVEF following ICU admission. A retrospective study was conducted. We extracted clinical physiological variables derived from ICU monitoring and available within the MIMIC II database and developed a fuzzy model using sequential feature selection and compared it with the conventional logistic regression (LR) model. Maximum predictive performance was observed using easily acquired ICU variables within 6 hours after admission and satisfactory predictive performance was achieved using variables acquired as early as one hour after admission. The fuzzy model is able to predict LVEF ≤ 25% with an AUC of 0.71 ± 0.07, outperforming the LR model, with an AUC of 0.67 ± 0.07. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study predicting severely impaired LVEF using multivariate analysis of routinely collected data in the ICU. We recommend inclusion of these findings into triaged management plans that balance urgency with resources and clinical status, particularly for reducing the time of echocardiographic examination.

Description: This paper deals with the market structure at the opening of the trading day and its influence on subsequent trading. We compare a single continuous double auction and two complement markets with different call auction designs as opening mechanisms in a unified experimental framework. The call auctions differ with respect to their levels of transparency. We find that a call auction not only improves market efficiency and liquidity at the beginning of the trading day when compared to the stand-alone continuous double auction, but also causes positive spillover effects on subsequent trading. Concerning the design of the opening call auction, we find no significant differences between the transparent and nontransparent specification with respect to opening prices and liquidity. In the course of subsequent continuous trading, however, market quality is slightly higher after a nontransparent call auction.

Description: This paper concentrates on estimating the risk of Title Transfer Facility (TTF) Hub natural gas portfolios by using the GARCH-EVT-copula model. We first use the univariate ARMA-GARCH model to model each natural gas return series. Second, the extreme value distribution (EVT) is fitted to the tails of the residuals to model marginal residual distributions. Third, multivariate Gaussian copula and Student -copula are employed to describe the natural gas portfolio risk dependence structure. Finally, we simulate N portfolios and estimate value at risk (VaR) and conditional value at risk (CVaR). Our empirical results show that, for an equally weighted portfolio of five natural gases, the VaR and CVaR values obtained from the Student -copula are larger than those obtained from the Gaussian copula. Moreover, when minimizing the portfolio risk, the optimal natural gas portfolio weights are found to be similar across the multivariate Gaussian copula and Student -copula and different confidence levels.

Description: Fish constitute a paraphyletic and profusely diversified group that has historically puzzled ichthyologists. Hard efforts are necessary to better understand this group, due to its extensive diversity. New species are often identified and it leads to questions about their phylogenetic aspects. Cytogenetics is becoming an important biodiversity-detection tool also used to measure biodiversity evolutionary aspects. Molecular cytogenetics by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) allowed integrating quantitative and qualitative data from DNA sequences and their physical location in chromosomes and genomes. Although there is no intention on presenting a broader review, the current study presents some evidences on the need of integrating molecular cytogenetic data to other evolutionary biology tools to more precisely infer cryptic species detection, population structuring in marine environments, intra- and interspecific karyoevolutionary aspects of freshwater groups, evolutionary dynamics of marine fish chromosomes, and the origin and differentiation of sexual and B chromosomes. The new cytogenetic field, called cytogenomics, is spreading due to its capacity to give resolute answers to countless questions that cannot be answered by traditional methodologies. Indeed, the association between chromosomal markers and DNA sequencing as well as between biological diversity analysis methodologies and phylogenetics triggers the will to search for answers about fish evolutionary, taxonomic, and structural features.

Description: A study was conducted to investigate the relationship between the physical morphology of shorebirds and water birds (i.e., Lesser adjutant (Leptoptilos javanicus), Common redshank (Tringa totanus), Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus), and Little heron (Butorides striata)) and their foraging behavior in the mudflats area of Selangor, Peninsular Malaysia, from August 2013 to July 2014 by using direct observation techniques (using binoculars and a video recorder). The actively foraging bird species were watched, and their foraging activities were recorded for at least 30 seconds for up to a maximum of five minutes. A Spearman Rank Correlation highlighted a significant relationship between bill size and foraging time (, ), bill size and prey size (, ), bill size and probing depth (, ), and leg length and water/mud depth (, ). A Kruskal-Wallis Analysis showed a significant difference between average estimates of real probing depth of the birds (mm) and species (, ). Three foraging techniques were recorded: pause-travel, visual-feeding, and tactile-hunting. Thus, morphological characteristics of bird do influence their foraging behavior and strategies used when foraging.

Description: This study was conducted to compare the effectiveness of different irrigants used to remove endotoxins and cultivable microorganisms during endodontic therapy. Forty root canals were contaminated and divided into groups according to the irrigant: 2% NaOCl + surfactant, 2% CHX, 2.5% NaOCl, and pyrogen-free saline solution (control). Samples were collected after root canal contamination (S1), after instrumentation (S2), and 7 days after instrumentation (S3). Microorganisms and endotoxins were recovered from 100% of the contaminated root canals (S1). At S2, 2% NaOCl + surfactant, 2% CHX, and 2.5% NaOCl were able to completely eliminate cultivable microorganisms. At S3, both 2% CHX and 2.5% NaOCl were effective in preventing C. albicans and E. coli regrowth, but E. faecalis was still detected. No microorganism species was recovered from root canals instrumented with 2% NaOCl + surfactant. At S2, a higher percentage value of endotoxin reduction was found for 2% NaOCl + surfactant (99.3%) compared to 2% CHX (98.9%) and 2.5% NaOCl (97.18%) (). Moreover, at S3, 2% NaOCl + surfactant (100%) was the most effective irrigant against endotoxins. All irrigants tested were effective in reducing microorganisms and endotoxins from root canals. Moreover, 2% NaOCl + surfactant was the most effective irrigant against endotoxins and regrowth of microorganisms.

Description: The mechanical stimuli generated by orthodontic forces cause deformation of extracellular matrices and cells, vascular changes, inflammation, and the release of active biological agents generating a complex multifactorial sequence of biological events culminating in bone remodelling enabling orthodontic tooth movement. Orthodontic forces on the teeth generate stresses in periodontal tissues according to a number of variables including the type (continuous, interrupted, or intermittent), magnitude, direction, and frequency of the applied load. Whether the strain is compressive or tensile determines whether bone deposition or bone resorption will occur. The mechanically induced strains mediate structural changes in extracellular matrices and in cells, consequently affecting cellular gene expression and function. In the extracellular matrix, mechanosensing molecules integrated into the structure of various proteins can be activated upon load-induced protein unfolding. These specialized molecules have the capacity to sense and then to convert microenvironmental biomechanical stimuli into intracellular biochemical signals that interact to generate a coordinated tissue response. It is also possible that the applied force may directly cause nuclear deformation with configurational changes in chromatin, thus influencing gene expression. In this review article we summarize the current general concepts of mechanotransduction influencing the remodelling of periodontal tissues thus enabling tooth movement in response to applied orthodontic loads.

Description: Proxy Mobile IPV6 (PMIPV6) is a network based mobility management protocol which supports node’s mobility without the contribution from the respective mobile node. PMIPV6 is initially designed to support individual node mobility and it should be enhanced to support mobile network movement. NEMO-BSP is an existing protocol to support network mobility (NEMO) in PMIPV6 network. Due to the underlying differences in basic protocols, NEMO-BSP cannot be directly applied to PMIPV6 network. Mobility management signaling and data structures used for individual node’s mobility should be modified to support group nodes’ mobility management efficiently. Though a lot of research work is in progress to implement mobile network movement in PMIPV6, it is not yet standardized and each suffers with different shortcomings. This research work proposes modifications in NEMO-BSP and PMIPV6 to achieve NEMO support in PMIPV6. It mainly concentrates on optimizing the number and size of mobility signaling exchanged while mobile network or mobile network node changes its access point.

Description: Author(s): M. Lucamarini, I. Choi, M. B. Ward, J. F. Dynes, Z. L. Yuan, and A. J. Shields Researchers propose an approach to safeguard optical quantum key distribution systems against Trojan-horse attacks. [Phys. Rev. X 5, 031030] Published Wed Sep 09, 2015

Description: Author(s): H. J. Carmichael Theorists show that large photon fluxes can result in the breakdown of photon blockade, an analogy to Coulomb blockade for quantum-well electrons. This breakdown is due to a quantum phase transition in zero dimensions. [Phys. Rev. X 5, 031028] Published Tue Sep 08, 2015

Description: Author(s): Matthias Kraft, Yu Luo, S. A. Maier, and J. B. Pendry Solar cell technology benefits from increased photocurrents. New research uses transformation optics to preferentially concentrate light in hotspots in a metal grating. [Phys. Rev. X 5, 031029] Published Tue Sep 08, 2015

Description: Intelligent computer applications need to adapt their behaviour to contexts and users, but conventional classifier adaptation methods require long data collection and/or training times. Therefore classifier adaptation is often performed as follows: at design time application developers define typical usage contexts and provide reasoning models for each of these contexts, and then at runtime an appropriate model is selected from available ones. Typically, definition of usage contexts and reasoning models heavily relies on domain knowledge. However, in practice many applications are used in so diverse situations that no developer can predict them all and collect for each situation adequate training and test databases. Such applications have to adapt to a new user or unknown context at runtime just from interaction with the user, preferably in fairly lightweight ways, that is, requiring limited user effort to collect training data and limited time of performing the adaptation. This paper analyses adaptation trends in several emerging domains and outlines promising ideas, proposed for making multimodal classifiers user-specific and context-specific without significant user efforts, detailed domain knowledge, and/or complete retraining of the classifiers. Based on this analysis, this paper identifies important application characteristics and presents guidelines to consider these characteristics in adaptation design.

Description: Nanjing Dashengguan Bridge, which serves as the shared corridor crossing Yangtze River for both Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway and Shanghai-Wuhan-Chengdu railway, is the first 6-track high-speed railway bridge with the longest span throughout the world. In order to ensure safety and detect the performance deterioration during the long-time service of the bridge, a Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) system has been implemented on this bridge by the application of modern techniques in sensing, testing, computing, and network communication. The SHM system includes various sensors as well as corresponding data acquisition and transmission equipment for automatic data collection. Furthermore, an evaluation system of structural safety has been developed for the real-time condition assessment of this bridge. The mathematical correlation models describing the overall structural behavior of the bridge can be obtained with the support of the health monitoring system, which includes cross-correlation models for accelerations, correlation models between temperature and static strains of steel truss arch, and correlation models between temperature and longitudinal displacements of piers. Some evaluation results using the mean value control chart based on mathematical correlation models are presented in this paper to show the effectiveness of this SHM system in detecting the bridge’s abnormal behaviors under the varying environmental conditions such as high-speed trains and environmental temperature.

Description: Author(s): Andrew C. Potter, Romain Vasseur, and S. A. Parameswaran Developments in ultracold atomic experimental techniques highlight fundamental questions of whether quantum systems obey thermodynamics and statistical mechanics when isolated from their environment. A numerical technique is used to study phase transitions between thermal quantum fluids that obey thermodynamics and frozen quantum glasses that do not. [Phys. Rev. X 5, 031033] Published Mon Sep 14, 2015

Description: Author(s): Ronen Vosk, David A. Huse, and Ehud Altman The dynamical behavior of quantum systems is relevant to quantum information processing. A new theoretical model describes a phase transition from many-body localized states, in which quantum information is accessible, to thermal states, in which such information is lost in the dynamics. [Phys. Rev. X 5, 031032] Published Mon Sep 14, 2015

Description: Cloud computing is an on-demand computing model, which uses virtualization technology to provide cloud resources to users in the form of virtual machines through internet. Being an adaptable technology, cloud computing is an excellent alternative for organizations for forming their own private cloud. Since the resources are limited in these private clouds maximizing the utilization of resources and giving the guaranteed service for the user are the ultimate goal. For that, efficient scheduling is needed. This research reports on an efficient data structure for resource management and resource scheduling technique in a private cloud environment and discusses a cloud model. The proposed scheduling algorithm considers the types of jobs and the resource availability in its scheduling decision. Finally, we conducted simulations using CloudSim and compared our algorithm with other existing methods, like V-MCT and priority scheduling algorithms.

Description: This paper presents a parallel implementation of a kind of discrete Fourier transform (DFT): the vector-valued DFT. The vector-valued DFT is a novel tool to analyze the spectra of vector-valued discrete-time signals. This parallel implementation is developed in terms of a mathematical framework with a set of block matrix operations. These block matrix operations contribute to analysis, design, and implementation of parallel algorithms in multicore processors. In this work, an implementation and experimental investigation of the mathematical framework are performed using MATLAB with the Parallel Computing Toolbox. We found that there is advantage to use multicore processors and a parallel computing environment to minimize the high execution time. Additionally, speedup increases when the number of logical processors and length of the signal increase.

Description: Author(s): Y. M. Dai, H. Miao, L. Y. Xing, X. C. Wang, P. S. Wang, H. Xiao, T. Qian, P. Richard, X. G. Qiu, W. Yu, C. Q. Jin, Z. Wang, P. D. Johnson, C. C. Homes, and H. Ding High-temperature superconductivity has numerous applications in industry, yet the origin of this phenomenon remains controversial. A new study reveals how doped LiFe 1 − x Co x As exhibits a range of transition temperatures and crossovers between a Fermi-liquid state and a non-Fermi-liquid state. [Phys. Rev. X 5, 031035] Published Tue Sep 15, 2015

Description: Author(s): T. Kurumaji, S. Ishiwata, and Y. Tokura Novel electronic devices of the future may rely on the magnetoelectric effect, which researchers now show can be controlled in a 3 d transition metal via Zn doping. [Phys. Rev. X 5, 031034] Published Tue Sep 15, 2015

Description: Author(s): Daniel K. Wells, William L. Kath, and Adilson E. Motter Many realistic networks, including biological ones, are driven by noise, which can generate sudden changes in system behavior. Using a scalable algorithm for controlling the response to noise in complex biological systems, researchers identify gene targets for new cancer therapies. [Phys. Rev. X 5, 031036] Published Wed Sep 16, 2015

Description: Author(s): Yanfei Zhao, Haiwen Liu, Chenglong Zhang, Huichao Wang, Junfeng Wang, Ziquan Lin, Ying Xing, Hong Lu, Jun Liu, Yong Wang, Scott M. Brombosz, Zhili Xiao, Shuang Jia, X. C. Xie, and Jian Wang Analyzing changes in resistivity is one component of condensed-matter physics research that has applications in the electronics industry. Now, researchers experimentally show that the resistivity of a Cd 3 As 2 crystal can be modulated by the geometry of the material’s Fermi surface. [Phys. Rev. X 5, 031037] Published Wed Sep 16, 2015

Description: While it is generally recognized that anatomical differences exist between the male and female knee, the literature generally refutes the clinical need for gender-specific total knee prostheses. It has been found that standard, unisex knees perform as well, or better, in women than men. Recently, high-flex knees have become available that mechanically accommodate increased flexion yet no studies have directly compared the outcomes of these devices in men and women to see if gender-based differences exist. We retrospectively compared the performance of the high-flex Vanguard knee (Biomet, Warsaw, IN) in 716 male and 1,069 female knees. Kaplan-Meier survivorship was 98.5% at 5.6–5.7 years for both genders. After 2 years, mean improvements in Knee Society Knee and Function scores for men and women (50.9 versus 46.3; 26.5 versus 23.1) and corresponding SF-12 Mental and Physical scores (0.2 versus 2.2; 13.7 versus 12.2) were similar with differences not clinically relevant. Postoperative motion gains as a function of preoperative motion level were virtually identical in men and women. This further confirms the suitability of unisex total knee prostheses for both men and women.

Description: We investigated the effect of welding parameters on ultimate tensile strength of structural steel, ST37-2, welded by Metal Active Gas welding. A fractional factorial design was used for determining the significance of six parameters: wire feed rate, welding voltage, welding speed, travel angle, tip-to-work distance, and shielded gas flow rate. A regression model to predict ultimate tensile strength was developed. Finally, we verified optimization of the process parameters experimentally. We achieved an optimum tensile strength (558 MPa) and wire feed rate, 19 m/min, had the greatest effect, followed by tip-to-work distance, 7 mm, welding speed, 200 mm/min, welding voltage, 30 V, and travel angle, 60°. Shield gas flow rate, 10 L/min, was slightly better but had little effect in the 10–20 L/min range. Tests showed that our regression model was able to predict the ultimate tensile strength within 4%.

Description: The approach of instantiating authenticated group key exchange (GAKE) protocol from the multikey encapsulation mechanism (mKEM) has an important advantage of achieving classical requirement of GAKE security in one communication round. In spite of the limitations of this approach, for example, lack of forward secrecy, it is very useful in group environments when maximum communication efficiency is desirable. To enrich this mKEM-based GAKE construction, we suggest an efficient solution to convert this static GAKE framework into a partially dynamic scheme. Furthermore, to address the associated lack of forward-secrecy, we propose two variants of this generic construction which can also provide a means of forward secrecy at the cost of extra communication round. In addition, concerning associated implementation cost of deploying this generic GAKE construction in elliptic curve cryptosystem, we compare the possible instantiations of this model from existing mKEM algorithms in terms of the number of elliptic curve scalar multiplications.

Description: The aim of this study was to evaluate the bond strengths of composite restorations made with different filler amounts and resin composites that were photoactivated using a light-emitting diode (LED). Thirty bovine incisors were selected, and a conical cavity was prepared in the facial surface of each tooth. All preparations were etched with Scotchbond Etching Gel, the Adper Scotchbond Multipurpose Plus adhesive system was applied followed by photoactivation, and the cavities were filled with a single increment of Filtek Z350 XT, Filtek Z350 XT Flow, or bulk-fill X-tra fil resin composite (n = 10) followed by photoactivation. A push-out test to determine bond strength was conducted using a universal testing machine. Data (MPa) were submitted to Student’s t-test at a 5% significance level. After the test, the fractured specimens were examined using an optical microscope under magnification (10x). Although all three composites demonstrated a high prevalence of adhesive failures, the bond strength values of the different resin composites photoactivated by LED showed that the X-tra fil resin composite had a lower bond strength than the Filtek Z350 XT and Filtek Z350 XT Flow resin composites.

Description: Author(s): Karsten Balzer, F. Alexander Wolf, Ian P. McCulloch, Philipp Werner, and Martin Eckstein There is interest in modulating emergent phases such as magnetism and superconductivity on short time scales. New theoretical results reveal how the melting of magnetic order proceeds along different pathways depending on whether electrons behave like localized magnetic moments or coherent quasiparticles. [Phys. Rev. X 5, 031039] Published Fri Sep 18, 2015

Description: Author(s): Davide Venturelli, Salvatore Mandrà, Sergey Knysh, Bryan O’Gorman, Rupak Biswas, and Vadim Smelyanskiy Quantum computing promises to be more efficient and significantly faster than today’s classical computing. Researchers compare the performance of a quantum annealer with that of classical algorithms for the first time on hard spin-glass problems. [Phys. Rev. X 5, 031040] Published Fri Sep 18, 2015

Description: Privacy preservation and security provision against internal attacks in wireless mesh networks (WMNs) are more demanding than in wired networks due to the open nature and mobility of certain nodes in the network. Several schemes have been proposed to preserve privacy and provide security in WMNs. To provide complete privacy protection in WMNs, the properties of unobservability, unlinkability, and anonymity are to be ensured during route discovery. These properties can be achieved by implementing group signature and ID-based encryption schemes during route discovery. Due to the characteristics of WMNs, it is more vulnerable to many network layer attacks. Hence, a strong protection is needed to avoid these attacks and this can be achieved by introducing a new Cross-Layer and Subject Logic based Dynamic Reputation (CLSL-DR) mechanism during route discovery. In this paper, we propose a new Privacy preserved and Secured Reliable Routing (PSRR) protocol for WMNs. This protocol incorporates group signature, ID-based encryption schemes, and CLSL-DR mechanism to ensure strong privacy, security, and reliability in WMNs. Simulation results prove this by showing better performance in terms of most of the chosen parameters than the existing protocols.

Description: Author(s): G. H. Aguilar, S. P. Walborn, P. H. Souto Ribeiro, and L. C. Céleri Characterizing the entangled states of quantum objects is both time and resource demanding. Now, researchers experimentally demonstrate an optical setup for partially characterizing entangled states in a much more efficient manner. [Phys. Rev. X 5, 031042] Published Thu Sep 24, 2015

Description: Author(s): A. A. Milner, A. Korobenko, K. Rezaiezadeh, and V. Milner Fast-rotating molecules spun up by a laser pulse maintain their alignment despite collisions. [Phys. Rev. X 5, 031041] Published Wed Sep 23, 2015

Description: Author(s): Raam Uzdin, Amikam Levy, and Ronnie Kosloff Heat machines on the atomic scale are surprisingly similar to their macroscopic classical counterparts. Theorists show that all different engine types become thermodynamically equivalent in the quantum regime. [Phys. Rev. X 5, 031044] Published Tue Sep 29, 2015

Description: Passive radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag has been used in many applications. While the RFID market is expected to grow, concerns about security and privacy of the RFID tag should be overcome for the future use. To overcome these issues, privacy-preserving authentication protocols based on cryptographic algorithms have been designed. However, to the best of our knowledge, evaluation of the whole tag, which includes an antenna, an analog front end, and a digital processing block, that runs authentication protocols has not been studied. In this paper, we present an implementation and evaluation of a fully integrated passive UHF RFID tag that runs a privacy-preserving mutual authentication protocol based on a hash function. We design a single chip including the analog front end and the digital processing block. We select a lightweight hash function supporting 80-bit security strength and a standard hash function supporting 128-bit security strength. We show that when the lightweight hash function is used, the tag completes the protocol with a reader-tag distance of 10 cm. Similarly, when the standard hash function is used, the tag completes the protocol with the distance of 8.5 cm. We discuss the impact of the peak power consumption of the tag on the distance of the tag due to the hash function.

Description: Objective. To determine a high fear cut-off point score for the Dental Fear Survey (DFS) using a single-item self-report questionnaire. Methods. The DFS, a 20-item questionnaire assessing fear of dental treatment, was completed by 1,256 participants with a mean age of 22.3 years (SD = 5.1). Another self-report questionnaire was used to collect data on previous dental experiences. A high fear cut-off point score was determined by calculating the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve for the DFS. Descriptive statistics and multinomial logistic regression were calculated; a significance level of was used for all tests. Results. The ROC curve indicated that a DFS score ≥53 corresponds to a sensitivity of 88.9% and a specificity of 92.5%. Most participants (; 71.5%) reported no fear of going to the dentist. There was significant association between DFS score and fear assessed with the question “Are you fearful of going to the dentist?” (). Conclusion. A cut-off point of 53 on the DFS total score represents the best compromise between sensitivity and specificity and can be used to predict high dental fear.

Description: Author(s): Héctor Bombín The goal of achieving quantum computation requires overcoming the limitation of quantum noise. A new approach shows how noisy local information about noise can be used to reliably correct errors for an ensemble of qubits on a lattice. [Phys. Rev. X 5, 031043] Published Mon Sep 28, 2015

Description: Author(s): G. Dagvadorj, J. M. Fellows, S. Matyjaśkiewicz, F. M. Marchetti, I. Carusotto, and M. H. Szymańska The transition between a superfluid and a normal fluid in two dimensions can be understood in terms of the proliferation of topological defects. Now, scientists theoretically analyze such phase transitions in the far-from-equilibrium context of a quantum fluid of exciton polaritons. [Phys. Rev. X 5, 041028] Published Tue Nov 17, 2015

Description: Author(s): Chong Wang and T. Senthil Topological insulators possess properties of both conductors and insulators. A theoretical study demonstrates that the surface state of a Fu-Kane-Mele topological insulator can access all of the other surface states of the material. [Phys. Rev. X 5, 041031] Published Fri Nov 20, 2015

Description: Author(s): Christian L. Klix, Georg Maret, and Peter Keim Glasses remain a poorly understood material despite their widespread use. A study of the macroscopic elastic properties of a colloidal-glass former during vitrification offers new insights. [Phys. Rev. X 5, 041033] Published Wed Nov 25, 2015

Description: Author(s): F. Alexander Wolf, Ara Go, Ian P. McCulloch, Andrew J. Millis, and Ulrich Schollwöck Researchers use ideas generated in the study of quantum entanglement to guide the construction of new impurity solvers, enabling analysis of substantially more complex and realistic problems within the cluster dynamical mean-field-theory framework. [Phys. Rev. X 5, 041032] Published Tue Nov 24, 2015

Description: This research studies the characterization of activated carbon from tamarind seed with KOH activation. The effects of 0.5 : 1–1.5 : 1 KOH : tamarind seed charcoal ratios and 500–700°C activation temperatures were studied. FTIR, SEM-EDS, XRD, and BET were used to characterize tamarind seed and the activated carbon prepared from them. Proximate analysis, percent yield, iodine number, methylene blue number, and preliminary test of Fe(III) adsorption were also studied. Fe(III) adsorption was carried out by 30 mL column with 5–20 ppm Fe(III) initial concentrations. The percent yield of activated carbon prepared from tamarind seed with KOH activation decreased with increasing activation temperature and impregnation ratios, which were in the range from 54.09 to 82.03 wt%. The surface functional groups of activated carbon are O–H, C=O, C–O, –CO3, C–H, and Si–H. The XRD result showed high crystallinity coming from a potassium compound in the activated carbon. The main elements found in the activated carbon by EDS are C, O, Si, and K. The results of iodine and methylene blue adsorption indicate that the pore size of the activated carbon is mostly in the range of mesopore and macropore. The average BET pore size and BET surface area of activated carbon are 67.9764 Å and 2.7167 m2/g, respectively. Finally, the tamarind seed based activated carbon produced with 500°C activation temperature and 1.0 : 1 KOH : tamarind seed charcoal ratio was used for Fe(III) adsorption test. It was shown that Fe(III) was adsorbed in alkaline conditions and adsorption increased with increasing Fe(III) initial concentration from 5 to 20 ppm with capacity adsorption of 0.0069–0.019 mg/g.

Description: Preemption threshold scheduling (PTS) enhances real-time schedulability by controlling preemptiveness of tasks. This benefit of PTS highly depends on a proper algorithm that assigns each task feasible scheduling attributes, which are priority and preemption threshold. Due to the existence of an efficient optimal preemption threshold assignment algorithm that works with fully assigned priority orderings, we need an optimal priority assignment algorithm for PTS. This paper analyzes the inefficiency or nonoptimality of the previously proposed optimal priority assignment algorithms for PTS. We develop theorems for exhaustively but safely pruning infeasible priority orderings while assigning priorities to tasks for PTS. Based on the developed theorems, we correct the previously proposed optimal priority assignment algorithm for PTS. We also propose a performance improved optimal priority assignment algorithm for PTS proving its optimality. The empirical evaluation results clearly show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.

Description: Author(s): T. Maier, H. Kadau, M. Schmitt, M. Wenzel, I. Ferrier-Barbut, T. Pfau, A. Frisch, S. Baier, K. Aikawa, L. Chomaz, M. J. Mark, F. Ferlaino, C. Makrides, E. Tiesinga, A. Petrov, and S. Kotochigova Chaos is a fundamental aspect of many fields of nuclear and atomic physics. Scientists use collisions among magnetic rare-earth atoms to investigate quantum chaos. [Phys. Rev. X 5, 041029] Published Thu Nov 19, 2015

Description: Water table forecasting plays an important role in the management of groundwater resources in agricultural regions where there are drainage systems in river valleys. The results presented in this paper pertain to an area along the left bank of the Danube River, in the Province of Vojvodina, which is the northern part of Serbia. Two soft computing techniques were used in this research: an adaptive neurofuzzy inference system (ANFIS) and an artificial neural network (ANN) model for one-month water table forecasts at several wells located at different distances from the river. The results suggest that both these techniques represent useful tools for modeling hydrological processes in agriculture, with similar computing and memory capabilities, such that they constitute an exceptionally good numerical framework for generating high-quality models.

Description: Many healthy workplace interventions have been developed for healthcare settings to address the consistently low scores of healthcare professionals on assessments of mental and physical well-being. Complex healthcare settings present challenges for the scale-up and spread of successful interventions from one setting to another. Despite general agreement regarding the importance of the local setting in affecting intervention success across different settings, there is no consensus on what it is about a local setting that needs to be taken into account to design healthy workplace interventions appropriate for different local settings. Complexity theory principles were used to understand a workplace as a complex adaptive system and to create a framework of eight domains (system characteristics) that affect the emergence of system-level behaviour. This Workplace of Well-being (WoW) framework is responsive and adaptive to local settings and allows a shared understanding of the enablers and barriers to behaviour change by capturing local information for each of the eight domains. We use the results of applying the WoW framework to one workplace, a UK National Health Service ward, to describe the utility of this approach in informing design of setting-appropriate healthy workplace interventions that create workplaces conducive to healthy behaviour change.

Description: The aim of this work is to propose a method to establish trust at bootload level in cloud computing environment. This work proposes a game theoretic based approach for achieving trust at bootload level of both resources and users perception. Nash equilibrium (NE) enhances the trust evaluation of the first-time users and providers. It also restricts the service providers and the users to violate service level agreement (SLA). Significantly, the problem of cold start and whitewashing issues are addressed by the proposed method. In addition appropriate mapping of cloud user’s application to cloud service provider for segregating trust level is achieved as a part of mapping. Thus, time complexity and space complexity are handled efficiently. Experiments were carried out to compare and contrast the performance of the conventional methods and the proposed method. Several metrics like execution time, accuracy, error identification, and undecidability of the resources were considered.

Description: Targeting occupational health and safety interventions to different groups of employees and sectors is important. The aim of this study was to explore the environment-intervention fit of a Danish psychosocial work environment intervention program for the residential and home care sector. Focus group interviews with employees and interviews with mangers were conducted at 12 selected workplaces and a questionnaire survey was conducted with managers at all 115 workplaces. The interventions enhanced the probability of employees experiencing more “good” work days, where they could make a difference to the lives of clients. The interventions may therefore be characterized as culturally compelling and having a good fit with the immediate work environment of employees. The interventions furthermore seemed to fit well with the wider organizational environment and with recent changes in the societal and economic context of workplaces. However, some workplaces had difficulties with involving all employees and adapting the interventions to the organization of work. The findings suggest that flexibility and a variety of strategies to involve all employees are important aspects, if interventions are to fit well with the care sector. The focus on employees’ conceptualization of a “good” work day may be useful for intervention research in other sectors.

Description: Aim. To explore what strategies the supervisors found beneficial to prevent or reduce sickness absence among employees with musculoskeletal complaints. Methods. Five focus groups were conducted and 26 supervisors from health and social sector participated. Commonly used strategies to prevent sickness absence and interdisciplinary cooperation in this work were discussed in the focus groups. Systematic text condensation was used to analyse the data. Results. The supervisors described five strategies for sick leave management: (1) promoting well-being and a healthy working environment, (2) providing early support and adjustments, (3) making employees more responsible, (4) using confrontational strategies in relation to employees on long-term sick leave, and (5) cooperation with general practitioners (GPs). Conclusions. Strategies of promoting a healthy working environment and facilitating early return to work were utilised in the follow-up of employees with musculoskeletal complaints. Supportive strategies were found most useful especially in the early phases, while finding a balance between being supportive, on one side, and confronting the employee, on the other, was endeavoured in cases of recurrent or long-term sick leave. Further, the supervisors requested a closer cooperation with the GPs, which they believed would facilitate return to work.

Description: Background. Worksite-based programs to improve workforce health and well-being (Workplace Health Promotion (WHP)) have been advanced as conduits for improved worker productivity and decreased health care costs. There has been a countervailing health economics contention that return on investment (ROI) does not merit preventive health investment. Methods/Procedures. Pertinent studies were reviewed and results reconsidered. A simple economic model is presented based on conventional and alternate assumptions used in cost benefit analysis (CBA), such as discounting and negative value. The issues are presented in the format of 3 conceptual dilemmas. Principal Findings. In some occupations such as nursing, the utility of patient survival and staff health is undervalued. WHP may miss important components of work related health risk. Altering assumptions on discounting and eliminating the drag of negative value radically change the CBA value. Significance. Simple monetization of a work life and calculation of return on workforce health investment as a simple alternate opportunity involve highly selective interpretations of productivity and utility.

Description: One potential way that healthy organizations can impact employee health is by promoting a climate for health within the organization. Using a definition of health climate that includes support for health from multiple levels within the organization, this study examines whether all three facets of health climate—the workgroup, supervisor, and organization—work together to contribute to employee well-being. Two samples are used in this study to examine health climate at the individual level and group level in order to provide a clearer picture of the impact of the three health climate facets. -means cluster analysis was used on each sample to determine groups of individuals based on their levels of the three health climate facets. A discriminant function analysis was then run on each sample to determine if clusters differed on a function of employee well-being variables. Results provide evidence that having strength in all three of the facets is the most beneficial in terms of employee well-being at work. Findings from this study suggest that organizations must consider how health is treated within workgroups, how supervisors support employee health, and what the organization does to support employee health when promoting employee health.

Description: I present a parametric, bijective transformation to generate heavy tail versions of arbitrary random variables. The tail behavior of this heavy tail Lambert   random variable depends on a tail parameter : for , , for has heavier tails than . For being Gaussian it reduces to Tukey’s distribution. The Lambert W function provides an explicit inverse transformation, which can thus remove heavy tails from observed data. It also provides closed-form expressions for the cumulative distribution (cdf) and probability density function (pdf). As a special case, these yield analytic expression for Tukey’s pdf and cdf. Parameters can be estimated by maximum likelihood and applications to S&P 500 log-returns demonstrate the usefulness of the presented methodology. The R package LambertW implements most of the introduced methodology and is publicly available on CRAN.

Description: Cloud computing has pioneered the emerging world by manifesting itself as a service through internet and facilitates third party infrastructure and applications. While customers have no visibility on how their data is stored on service provider’s premises, it offers greater benefits in lowering infrastructure costs and delivering more flexibility and simplicity in managing private data. The opportunity to use cloud services on pay-per-use basis provides comfort for private data owners in managing costs and data. With the pervasive usage of internet, the focus has now shifted towards effective data utilization on the cloud without compromising security concerns. In the pursuit of increasing data utilization on public cloud storage, the key is to make effective data access through several fuzzy searching techniques. In this paper, we have discussed the existing fuzzy searching techniques and focused on reducing the searching time on the cloud storage server for effective data utilization. Our proposed Asymmetric Classifier Multikeyword Fuzzy Search method provides classifier search server that creates universal keyword classifier for the multiple keyword request which greatly reduces the searching time by learning the search path pattern for all the keywords in the fuzzy keyword set. The objective of using BTree fuzzy searchable index is to resolve typos and representation inconsistencies and also to facilitate effective data utilization.

Description: Background. Many worksite health promotion programs ignore the potential influence of working conditions on unhealthy behaviors. Methods. A study of nursing home employees (56% nursing aides) utilized a standardized questionnaire. We analyzed the cross-sectional associations between workplace stressors and obesity, cigarette smoking, and physical inactivity. Results. Of 1506 respondents, 20% reported exposure to three or more workplace stressors (physical or organizational), such as lifting heavy loads, low decision latitude, low coworker support, regular night work, and physical assault. For each outcome, the prevalence ratio was between 1.5 and 2 for respondents with four or five job stressors. Individuals under age 40 had stronger associations between workplace stressors and smoking and obesity. Conclusions. Workplace stressors were strongly associated with smoking, obesity, and physical inactivity, even among the lowest-status workers. Current working conditions affected younger workers more than older workers. Although this study is cross-sectional, it has other strengths, including the broad range of work stressors studied. Strenuous physical work and psychosocial strain are common among low-wage workers such as nursing home aides. Workplace health promotion programs may be more effective if they include measures to reduce stressful work environment features, so that working conditions support rather than interfere with employee health.

Description: The aim of the study was to investigate the long-term (one year) effectiveness of a 12-session weekly cognitive behavior group therapy (CBGT) on patients with depression. This was a single-blind randomized controlled study with a 2-arm parallel group design. Eighty-one subjects were randomly assigned to 12 sessions intervention group (CBGT) or control group (usual outpatient psychiatric care group) and 62 completed the study. The primary outcome was depression measured with Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II) and Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD). The secondary outcomes were automatic thoughts measured by automatic thoughts questionnaire (ATQ). Both groups were evaluated at the pretest (before 2 weeks), posttest (after 12 therapy sessions), and short- (3 months), medium- (6 months), and long-term (12 months) follow-up. After receiving CBGT, the experimental group had a statistically significant reduction in the BDI-II from 40.30 at baseline to 17.82 points at session eight and to 10.17 points at postintervention . Similar effects were seen on the HRSD. ATQ significantly decreased at the 12th session, 6 months after sessions, and 1 year after the sessions ended . We concluded that CBGT is effective for reducing depression and continued to be effective at 1 year of follow-up.

Description: Author(s): Matias Urdampilleta, Anasua Chatterjee, Cheuk Chi Lo, Takashi Kobayashi, John Mansir, Sylvain Barraud, Andreas C. Betz, Sven Rogge, M. Fernando Gonzalez-Zalba, and John J. L. Morton Electron spin qubits in silicon, whether in quantum dots or in donor atoms, have long been considered attractive qubits for the implementation of a quantum computer because of silicon’s “semiconductor vacuum” character and its compatibility with the microelectronics industry. While donor electron sp… [Phys. Rev. X 5, 031024] Published Thu Aug 27, 2015

Description: Author(s): Zak Frentz, Seppe Kuehn, and Stanislas Leibler High-resolution tracking of the population abundances in a simple, closed microbial ecosystem shows that the intrinsic dynamics of the system are strongly deterministic. [Phys. Rev. X 5, 041014] Published Mon Oct 26, 2015

Description: Humans have been using natural products for medicinal use for ages. Natural products of therapeutic importance are compounds derived from plants, animals, or any microorganism. Ginger is also one of the most commonly used condiments and a natural drug in vogue. It is a traditional medicine, having some active ingredients used for the treatment of numerous diseases. During recent research on ginger, various ingredients like zingerone, shogaol, and paradol have been obtained from it. Zingerone (4-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-2-butanone) is a nontoxic and inexpensive compound with varied pharmacological activities. It is the least pungent component of Zingiber officinale. Zingerone is absent in fresh ginger but cooking or heating transforms gingerol to zingerone. Zingerone closely related to vanillin from vanilla and eugenol from clove. Zingerone has potent anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic, antilipolytic, antidiarrhoeic, antispasmodic, and so forth properties. Besides, it displays the property of enhancing growth and immune stimulation. It behaves as appetite stimulant, anxiolytic, antithrombotic, radiation protective, and antimicrobial. Also, it inhibits the reactive nitrogen species which are important in causing Alzheimer’s disease and many other disorders. This review is written to shed light on the various pharmacological properties of zingerone and its role in alleviating numerous human and animal diseases.

Description: The main aim of this study was to determine health benefits among women older than 55 years who participated in organized, group-based physical activity (OPA). Thirty-five women aged 65.0 ± 7.3 years volunteered for this study. The classical and nonclassical cardiovascular (CVD) risk factors were measured before and after a 2-week OPA camp in a remote location and 3 months of OPA. Self-guided physical activity was analyzed 18 months after OPA. Two-week effects included significant decreases in body mass index, waist and hip circumferences, resting systolic and diastolic blood pressure (BP) and resting heart rate, improved exercise capacity (EC), improved low-density lipoprotein and high-density lipoprotein (HDL-C), cholesterol, and other atherogenic lipid indices (ALI), and a reduction in 10-year estimated risk of death from CVD. Three-month effects included a further decrease in systolic BP, improvements in EC and HDL-C, and maintenance of lower levels of ALI, as well as lower CVD risk. The implementation of the OPA programme had a positive impact on somatic features, exercise capacity, biochemical indices, and risk for death from CVD. The presented programme can be regarded as an effective element of primary prevention of cardiovascular diseases among women older than 55 years.

Description: We evaluate QoE of multiview video and selectable audio (MVV-SA), in which users can switch not only video but also audio according to a viewpoint change request, transmitted over IP networks by a subjective experiment. The evaluation is performed by the semantic differential (SD) method with 13 adjective pairs. In the subjective experiment, we ask assessors to evaluate 40 stimuli which consist of two kinds of UDP load traffic, two kinds of fixed additional delay, five kinds of playout buffering time, and selectable or unselectable audio (i.e., MVV-SA or the previous MVV-A). As a result, MVV-SA gives higher presence to the user than MVV-A and then enhances QoE. In addition, we employ factor analysis for subjective assessment results to clarify the component factors of QoE. We then find that three major factors affect QoE in MVV-SA.

Description: Purpose. The aim of this study was to evaluate the 30-year progress of research on exhaled breath condensate in a disease-based approach. Methods. We searched PubMed/Medline, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar using the following keywords: exhaled breath condensate (EBC), biomarkers, pH, asthma, gastroesophageal reflux (GERD), smoking, COPD, lung cancer, NSCLC, mechanical ventilation, cystic fibrosis, pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, interstitial lung diseases, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), and drugs. Results. We found 12600 related articles in total in Google Scholar, 1807 in ScienceDirect, and 1081 in PubMed/Medline, published from 1980 to October 2014. 228 original investigation and review articles were eligible. Conclusions. There is rapidly increasing number of innovative articles, covering all the areas of modern respiratory medicine and expanding EBC potential clinical applications to other fields of internal medicine. However, the majority of published papers represent the results of small-scale studies and thus current knowledge must be further evaluated in large cohorts. In regard to the potential clinical use of EBC-analysis, several limitations must be pointed out, including poor reproducibility of biomarkers and absence of large surveys towards determination of reference-normal values. In conclusion, contemporary EBC-analysis is an intriguing achievement, but still in early stage when it comes to its application in clinical practice.

Description: Author(s): S. Torquato, G. Zhang, and F. H. Stillinger Some materials exhibit ground states that are disordered, even in the zero-temperature limit. Researchers derive theoretical relations of thermodynamic and structural properties to describe these unexpected states. [Phys. Rev. X 5, 021020] Published Fri May 29, 2015

Description: A stroboscopic surface thermal lensing (SSTL) system for the fast detection of thermal-induced defects in large-scaled optical coating films was constructed. The SSTL signal was generated by a set of double-modulators and captured by a high speed matrix camera, respectively. The spot size of both pump laser and probe laser expanded for larger detection area was finished in a single step. Based on the STL technique, both the mapping of amplitude and the phase of SSTL signal on the whole area of the coatings can be achieved simultaneously.

Description: A new energy efficient optimal Connected Dominating Set (CDS) algorithm with activity scheduling for mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) is proposed. This algorithm achieves energy efficiency by minimizing the Broadcast Storm Problem [BSP] and at the same time considering the node’s remaining energy. The Connected Dominating Set is widely used as a virtual backbone or spine in mobile ad hoc networks [MANETs] or Wireless Sensor Networks [WSN]. The CDS of a graph representing a network has a significant impact on an efficient design of routing protocol in wireless networks. Here the CDS is a distributed algorithm with activity scheduling based on unit disk graph [UDG]. The node’s mobility and residual energy (RE) are considered as parameters in the construction of stable optimal energy efficient CDS. The performance is evaluated at various node densities, various transmission ranges, and mobility rates. The theoretical analysis and simulation results of this algorithm are also presented which yield better results.

Description: Author(s): Hao Shen, Dylan Lu, Bryan VanSaders, Jimmy J. Kan, Hongxing Xu, Eric E. Fullerton, and Zhaowei Liu Electromagnetic scattering has applications in astrophysics, atmospheric science, and medical imaging. Researchers design a metamaterial that exhibits anomalously weak scattering over a band of optical frequencies. [Phys. Rev. X 5, 021021] Published Fri May 29, 2015

Description: The high incidence of tumor recurrence following transurethral resection (TUR) represents a major problem encountered in the management of bladder cancer. This study examined the efficacy of intravesical chemotherapy in superficial bladder cancer. We retrospectively analyzed 90 Japanese cases with low-grade superficial transitional cell carcinoma (stage T1, grades 1 and 2) who were rendered tumor-free by TURBT (TUR of bladder tumor) and who thereafter were treated with or without intravesical chemotherapy. Among them, instillation was terminated in 2 patients due to adverse effects (severe but reversible chemical cystitis). Remaining 88 patients were divided into 2 groups according to therapy: the TURBT-only group , defined as patients treated with TURBT alone, and the Instillation group , defined as patients treated with weekly intravesical instillation therapies using epirubicin plus Ara-C. Recurrence-free rate was significantly higher in the Instillation group than in the TURBT-only group (, HR = 0.457). The 5-year recurrence-free rate was 58.5% for the Instillation group and 38.6% for the TURBT-only group. Our instillation schedule represents the most intensive regimen among previously reported therapies and resulted in a 54.3% decrease in incidence of tumor recurrence. We believe that the results of this study could provide useful information on management of bladder cancer.

Description: Author(s): Jaeyoung Park, Nicholas A. Krall, Paul E. Sieck, Dustin T. Offermann, Michael Skillicorn, Andrew Sanchez, Kevin Davis, Eric Alderson, and Giovanni Lapenta Power generation from nuclear fusion requires that highly energetic plasmas be stably confined. New evidence shows how high plasma pressures help to confine high-energy electrons in a stable magnetic cusp, laying the groundwork for efficient fusion reactors. [Phys. Rev. X 5, 021024] Published Thu Jun 11, 2015