Crash reductions related to traffic signal removal in Philadelphia

The effect on intersection crashes of converting one-way street intersections in Philadelphia from signal to multiway stop sign control was estimated. Using crash and traffic volume data for a comparison group, regression models were computed to represent the normal crash experience of signal controlled intersections of one-way streets, by impact type, as a function of traffic volume. An empirical Bayesian procedure was used to estimate what would have been the expected number of crashes at the converted intersections had they not been converted. The empirical Bayesian estimates were compared with actual counts of crashes after conversion. Estimates were obtained for different classes of crashes categorized by impact type, day/night condition, and impact severity. Aggregate results indicate that replacing signals by multiway stop signs on one-way streets is associated with a reduction in crashes of approximately 24%, combining all severities, light conditions, and impact types.     

Structure–Activity Relationship Study of Spider Polyamine Toxins as Inhibitors of Ionotropic Glutamate Receptors

The spider polyamine toxins Joro spider toxin‐3 (JSTX‐3) and Nephila polyamine toxins‐1 and ‐8 (NPTX‐1 and NPTX‐8) are isolated from the venom of the orb‐weaver spider Nephila clavata (Joro spider). They share a high degree of structural resemblance, their aromatic head groups being the only difference, and were recently found to be very potent open‐channel blockers of ionotropic glutamate (iGlu) receptors. In this study we designed and synthesized a collection of 24 analogues of these toxins using a recently developed solid‐phase synthetic methodology. Systematic variation in two regions of the toxins and subsequent evaluation of biological activity at AMPA and NMDA subtypes of iGlu receptors provided succinct information on structure–activity relationships. In particular, one set of analogues were found to display exquisite selectivity and potency for AMPA receptors relative to the natural products. Thus, this systematic SAR study has provided new pharmacological tools for studies of iGlu receptors.     

GFEM analysis of MHD nanofluid flow toward a power‐law stretching sheet in the presence of thermodiffusive effect along with regression investigation

In the current study, we use Galerkin finite‐element simulation to analyze the concept of triple diffusive flow with magnetic field effect toward a power law stretching sheet. The fluid comprises dissolved solutal particles and nanoparticles in the base fluid. The three important mechanisms that are responsible for rise in phenomenon of convective transportation are diffusophoresis, thermophoresis along with Brownian motion have been considered. Recently, the proposed nanoparticles' mass flux and heat flux boundary conditions have been imposed. Nanoparticle mass transportation, solutal mass transportation with heat transportation for prominent physical parameters, such as stretching parameter, magnetic influence parameter, thermophoresis parameter, and Brownian motion parameter are calculated. To further verify and understand the strength of the relationship between heat transportation rate and controlling parameters, the multiple regression process is used. The finite difference approach was adopted to numerically solve the nonlinear governing equations and the linked boundary conditions. In the present study, we used MATLAB software for finding the final outcomes and relating the concluding results for $?{{\theta }_{\delta }}^{\prime }\left(0\right)$ with extant outcomes in the literature as a limiting case in the absence of the magnetic intensity parameter and an excellent agreement was noted. It was observed that the magnetic field has a positive effect on heat and mass transfer. This study also helps in understanding and thus controlling the velocity of the flow along with solutal depositions, which has a significant engineering application in the process of extrusion. The findings of the present study help to control the rate of heat and mass transfer, aiding manufacturing companies in obtaining the desired quality of product.     

Efficient sign based normalized adaptive filtering techniques for cancelation of artifacts in ECG signals: Application to wireless biotelemetry

In this paper, several simple and efficient sign based normalized adaptive filters, which are computationally superior having multiplier free weight update loops are used for cancelation of noise in electrocardiographic (ECG) signals. The proposed implementation is suitable for applications such as biotelemetry, where large signal to noise ratios with less computational complexity are required. These schemes mostly employ simple addition, shift operations and achieve considerable speed up over the other least mean square (LMS) based realizations. Simulation studies shows that the proposed realization gives better performance compared to existing realizations in terms of signal to noise ratio and computational complexity.     

Sparsity-motivated automatic target recognition

We present an automatic target recognition algorithm using the recently developed theory of sparse representations and compressive sensing. We show how sparsity can be helpful for efficient utilization of data for target recognition. We verify the efficacy of the proposed algorithm in terms of the recognition rate and confusion matrices on the well known Comanche (Boeing-Sikorsky, USA) forward-looking IR data set consisting of ten different military targets at different orientations.     

Magnetron sputtered TiO2 films on a stainless steel substrate: Selective rutile phase formation and its tribological and anti-corrosion performance

In this work, TiO₂ films on 316L stainless steel have been formed by non-reactive magnetron sputtering of TiO₂ target. The effect of a titanium underlayer on the crystalline phase of the TiO₂ film has been investigated in terms of phase evolution, film morphology, corrosion resistance, adhesion strength, hardness and tribological characteristics. Results showed that the titanium underlayer has a significant effect on the phase of the TiO₂ film. Without this underlayer, an anatase TiO₂ film is produced, in consistence with many other investigations. However, it is found that with a titanium underlayer, a rutile TiO₂ film can be directly formed on the substrate. The thickness of the interface layer affects the crystallinity of the rutile film. By controlling the underlayer thickness, the resultant rutile film crystal structure and morphology could be changed accordingly. At an optimized state, the rutile coating shows much improved adhesion, friction, wear and corrosion properties.     

Chrome ore beneficiation challenges & opportunities - A review

Supply of world chromite (chrome ore) has come under severe pressure over the past year driven by strong demand for ferrochrome used in ferroalloy production for making stainless steel. Many of the strategic minerals are inputs into products in fast-changing markets. This article reviews the major process flow sheets in practice for the recovery of chromite values from various types of ores and critical issues related to chromite ore beneficiation. The comprehensive condensation of pertinent facts is intended to provide a single reference source rather than the reader perusing many articles. Emphasis is placed on different processes developed in identifying and solving critical plant problems.     

Mobile Cloud Computing: A Survey,State of Art and Future Directions

In the recent years, cloud computing frameworks such as Amazon Web Services, Google AppEngine and Windows Azure have become increasingly popular among IT organizations and developers. Simultaneously, we have seen a phenomenal increase in the usage and deployment of smartphone platforms and applications worldwide. This paper discusses the current state of the art in the merger of these two popular technologies, that we refer to as Mobile Cloud Computing (MCC). We illustrate the applicability of MCC in various domains including mobile learning, commerce, health/wellness and social medias. We further identify research gaps covering critical aspects of how MCC can be realized and effectively utilized at scale. These include improved resource allocation in the MCC environment through efficient task distribution and offloading, security and privacy.