Glass fibre reinforced plastic (GFRP) rebars for concrete structures

The study described is a part of a large-scale experimental and theoretical programme on the application of fibre reinforced plastic ( ) reinforcement for concrete structures initiated at the Université de Sherbrooke (Sherbrooke, Canada). The programme is being carried out to gain an insight into the flexural behaviour of concrete beams reinforced with glass fibre reinforced plastic ( ) rebars. Results of experimental study on 3.3 m long beams reinforced with two different types of rebars are presented and compared to that of conventional steel reinforced concrete beams. Three series of reinforced concrete beams were tested in flexure. The beams were 200 mm wide and respectively 300, 450 and 550 mm high. The paper also attempts to present the properties of and its components and to give an oversight of relevant research activities involving rebars as reinforcement for concrete units.     

Dempster–Shafer theory-based human activity recognition in smart home environments

Context awareness and activity recognition are becoming a hot research topic in ambient intelligence (AmI) and ubiquitous robotics, due to the latest advances in wireless sensor network research which provides a richer set of context data and allows a wide coverage of AmI environments. However, using raw sensor data for activity recognition is subject to different constraints and makes activity recognition inaccurate and uncertain. The Dempster–Shafer evidence theory, known as belief functions, gives a convenient mathematical framework to handle uncertainty issues in sensor information fusion and facilitates decision making for the activity recognition process. Dempster–Shafer theory is more and more applied to represent and manipulate contextual information under uncertainty in a wide range of activity-aware systems. However, using this theory needs to solve the mapping issue of sensor data into high-level activity knowledge. The present paper contributes new ways to apply the Dempster–Shafer theory using binary discrete sensor information for activity recognition under uncertainty. We propose an efficient mapping technique that allows converting and aggregating the raw data captured, using a wireless senor network, into high-level activity knowledge. In addition, we propose a conflict resolution technique to optimize decision making in the presence of conflicting activities. For the validation of our approach, we have used a real dataset captured using sensors deployed in a smart home. Our results demonstrate that the improvement of activity recognition provided by our approaches is up to of 79 %. These results demonstrate also that the accuracy of activity recognition using the Dempster–Shafer theory with the proposed mappings outperforms both naïve Bayes classifier and J48 decision tree.     

Abnormal Expression of Synaptic and Extrasynaptic GABAA Receptor Subunits in the Dystrophin-Deficient mdx Mouse

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder primarily caused by the loss of the full-length Dp427 dystrophin in both muscle and brain. The basis of the central comorbidities in DMD is unclear. Brain dystrophin plays a role in the clustering of central gamma-aminobutyric acid A receptors (GABA_ARs), and its loss in the mdx mouse alters the clustering of some synaptic subunits in central inhibitory synapses. However, the diversity of GABAergic alterations in this model is still fragmentary. In this study, the analysis of in vivo PET imaging of a benzodiazepine-binding site radioligand revealed that the global density of central GABA_ARs is unaffected in mdx compared with WT mice. In contrast, semi-quantitative immunoblots and immunofluorescence confocal imaging in tissue sections revealed complex and differential patterns of alterations of the expression levels and/or clustered distribution of a variety of synaptic and extrasynaptic GABA_AR subunits in the hippocampus, cerebellum, cortex, and spinal cord. Hence, dystrophin loss not only affects the stabilization of synaptic GABA_ARs but also influences the subunit composition of GABA_ARs subtypes at both synaptic and extrasynaptic sites. This study provides new molecular outcome measures and new routes to evaluate the impact of treatments aimed at compensating alterations of the nervous system in DMD.     

Enabling technologies for the ‘always best connected’ concept

‘Always Best Connected’ (ABC) is considered one of the main requirements for next generation networks. The ABC concept allows a person to have access to applications using the devices and network technologies that best suits his or her needs or profile at any time. Clearly, this requires the combination of a set of existing and new technologies, at all levels of the protocol stack, into one integrated system. In this paper, a considerable set of the technologies, that are expected to play a key role towards the ABC vision, are presented. Starting from a reference architecture, the paper describes the required enhancements at certain levels of a traditional protocol stack, as well as technologies for mobility and end‐to‐end Quality of Service (QoS) support. The paper concludes with a case study that reveals the advantages of the ABC concept. This article replaces a previously published version (Wireless Communications and Mobile Computing; 5 (2): 175‐191. [DOI: 10.1002/wcm.207]). Retraction notice DOI: 10.1002/wcm.426 . Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Assessment of the bioactive lipid profiles of oil extracted from Tunisian table olive cultivars (Barouni,Besbassi, and Marsaline cvs.)

Bioactive compounds are components extracted from biological matrices that may offer physiological health benefits and have nutritive value. The present study characterized bioactive lipid components such as fatty acids, phytosterols, policosanol, and triterpenes from table olives. The table olives were processed according to the green Spanish-style method. The obtained results indicate that phytosterol fraction constitutes the major portion of the total unsaponifiable matter. The analysis of phytosterols showed the presence of 11 compounds, β-sitosterol the predominant one. The policosanol composition indicated that hexacosanol, tetracosanol, octacosanol, and docosanol were the main compounds, accounting for over 85% of total policosanols. Pentacyclic triterpenes (cycloartenol and 24-methylene cycloartenol) were found at a higher level (over 85%) compared to tetracyclic triterpenes (β-amyrin, δ-amyrin). These findings reveal that processed table olives contain an interesting amount of various bioactive compounds compared to marine and other floral biological matrices. Thus, processed table olives represent an interesting natural functional food that presents high stability and bioavailability of their natural bioactive ingredients. Practical Applications: Nowadays, with health food gaining popularity among consumers, the demand for natural bioactive compounds and functional food is expanding considerably all over the world. This study focuses on analyzing bioactive lipid components from processed table olives. Fruits were processed according to the green Spanish-style method. The salt content of the brine was adjusted to the minimum sodium chloride value required by the Codex Alimentarius Comission, which is 5%, taking into consideration people suffering from hypertension. This concentration is considered the minimum amount of salt necessary to exhibit antibacterial activities. Considering the results obtained, processed table olives present one of the most valuable potential resources for bioactive lipid compounds and have a considerable ability to preserve the stability of their lipid components. Thus, the food industry in Mediterranean countries can promote processed table olives as conventional functional food with no need for any enrichment or fortification.     

CADS-ML/DL: efficient cloud-based multi-attack detection system

International Journal of Information Security - With the increasing adoption of cloud computing, securing cloud-based systems and applications has become a critical concern for almost every...