A technique for extracting behavioral sequence patterns from GPS recorded data

The mobile wireless market has been attracting many customers. Technically, the paradigm of anytime-anywhere connectivity raises previously unthinkable challenges, including the management of million of mobile customers, their profiles, the profiles-based selective information dissemination, and server-side computing infrastructure design issues to support such a large pool of users automatically and intelligently. In this paper, we propose a data mining technique for discovering frequent behavioral patterns from a collection of trajectories gathered by Global Positioning System. Although the search space for spatiotemporal knowledge is extremely challenging, imposing spatial and temporal constraints on spatiotemporal sequences makes the computation feasible. Specifically, the mined patterns are incorporated with synthetic constraints, namely spatiotemporal sequence length restriction, minimum and maximum timing gap between events, time window of occurrence of the whole pattern, inclusion or exclusion event constraints, and frequent movement patterns predictive of one ore more classes. The algorithm for mining all frequent constrained patterns is named cAllMOP. Moreover, to control the density of pattern regions a clustering algorithm is exploited. The proposed method is efficient and scalable. Its efficiency is better than that of the previous algorithms AllMOP and GSP with respect to the compactness of discovered knowledge, execution time, and memory requirement.     

Crystallization and dissolution behavior of l(+) calcium and zinc lactate in ethanol-water solvent

Crystallization and dissolution behavior of L(+) calcium and zinc lactate in 50% ethanol-water solution was studied. The effects of stirring, standing, ultrasonic wave, and temperature on the crystallization of L(+) calcium and zinc lactate were evaluated. It was found that standing had a positive effect on crystallization of L(+) calcium and zinc lactate, while stirring promoted dissolution of crystallized particles and resulted in high residual concentration in mother liquor. The application of ultrasonic wave did not influence much on crystallization process. L(+) calcium and zinc lactate crystallized easily at 5 ‡C; however, complete crystallization took more than 72 hours. These two salts dissolved rapidly and reached equilibrium within 1 hour.     

Influence of ionic liquids on the growth ofEscherichia coli

Ionic liquids are compounds that composed only of ions and are liquid at room temperature. Thus, it is normally named room temperature ionic liquid (RTIL). In this study, the application of RTILs to the extractive fermentation of biomaterials was investigated as a substitute of organic solvents. The relative toxicity of the RTILs on the growth ofE. coli was tested. The inhibition of cell growth in the presence of various ionic liquids was measured using solid and liquid culture, and EC₅₀ of each RTILs was calculated. The number of viable and total cells was measured by the number of colonies and optical density, respectively. Effective concentrations of toxicity (EC₅₀) in these tested systems were similar with conventional solvents, such as acetone, acetonitrile, and ethanol. The viability ofE. coli was affected by the polarity and ionic properties of ionic liquids. The resistance of the microorganisms against ionic liquids was different with the cations and anions composing ionic liquids. No general influence of the anionic compound of the ionic liquids was found on toxicity comparing with distinctive influence of cationic moiety.     

Converting random bits into random numbers

Converting random bits into random numbers is necessary for cryptographic protocols such as key agreements, public key encryptions, digital signatures and so on. In this paper, we propose the simple partial discard method and the complex partial discard method that convert random bits into random numbers. They are up to two times more efficient than standardized techniques.     

Synthesis and biological activity of phthalimide‐based polymers containing 5‐fluorouracil

The attachment of anticancer agents to polymers is a promising approach towards reducing the toxic side‐effects and retaining the potent antitumour activity of these agents. A new tetrahydrophthalimido monomer containing 5‐fluorouracil (ETPFU) and its homopolymer and copolymers with acrylic acid (AA) and with vinyl acetate (VAc) have been synthesized and spectroscopically characterized. The ETPFU contents in poly(ETPFU‐co‐AA) and poly(ETPFU‐co‐VAc) obtained by elemental analysis were 21 mol% and 20 mol%, respectively. The average molecular weights of the polymers determined by gel permeation chromatography were as follows: M_n = 8900 g mol^?1, M_w = 13 300 g mol^?1, M_w/M_n = 1.5 for poly(ETPFU); M_n = 13 500 g mol^?1, M_w = 16 600 g mol^?1, M_w/M_n = 1.2 for poly(ETPFU‐co‐AA); M_n = 8300 g mol^?1, M_w = 11 600 g mol^?1, M_w/M_n = 1.4 poly(ETPFU‐co‐VAc). The in vitro cytotoxicity of the compounds against FM3A and U937 cancer cell lines increased in the following order: ETPFU > 5‐FU > poly(ETPFU) > poly(ETPFU‐co‐AA) > poly(ETPFU‐co‐VAc). The in vivo antitumour activities of all the polymers in Balb/C mice bearing the sarcoma 180 tumour cell line were greater than those of 5‐FU and monomer at the highest dose (800 mg kg^?1). © 2002 Society of Chemical Industry     

Polyurethane–poly(methyl methacrylate) block copolymer dispersions through polyurethane macroiniferters

Polyurethane macroiniferter/poly(methyl methacrylate) block copolymer dispersions with inverse core‐shell morphologies were obtained from 1,1,2,2,‐tetraphenylethane‐1,2‐diol, dimethylol propionic acid, 4,4′‐diphenylmethane diisocyanate, and poly(propylene glycol) via a living radical mechanism. Molecular weight, particle size and dispersion viscosity, and thermal, mechanical, and dynamic mechanical properties of the dispersion cast films are reported as a function of copolymerization time. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 88: 1971–1975, 2003     

A water‐developable negative photoresist based on the photocrosslinking of N‐phenylamide groups with reduced environmental impact

A water‐developable negative photoresist based on the photocrosslinking of N‐phenylamide groups was prepared by the copolymerization of 4‐styrenesulfonic acid sodium salts (SSS) with N‐phenylmethacrylamide (copolymer A) or p‐hydroxy‐N‐phenylmethacrylamide (copolymer B), and its properties such as solubility changes, photochemical reaction, and photoresist characteristics were studied. The copolymer containing a relatively higher amount of SSS units was soluble in water. Solubility changes of the copolymers in the various buffer solutions of pH 4 ～ 11 and in water upon irradiation were observed by the measurement of insoluble fraction. The copolymers were soluble in water before irradiation, whereas they became insoluble upon irradiation with the UV light of 254 nm. The photochemical reaction of the copolymer studied by the UV and IR absorption spectroscopies indicated that a photo‐Fries rearrangement was favored for copolymer A, whereas a photocrosslinking reaction was predominate for copolymer B. Resist properties of the copolymers were studied by measurement of the normalized thickness and by development of the micropattern. Negative tone images with a resolution of 1 μm were obtained with these materials that have a sensitivity (D) of ～ 1100 mJ/cm² with an aqueous developing process.© 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 86: 1172–1180, 2002     

Parameters determining the agglomeration behavior of anhydrous L-ornithine-L-aspartate (LOLA) crystals prepared by drowning out crystallization

Crystallization of L-ornithine-L-aspartate (LOLA) by drowning out was performed for the production of the anhydrous form of LOLA. The needle-like LOLA crystals were formed and spherically agglomerated during precipitation in a semibatch crystallizer. The primary crystal size in the agglomerate remains unchanged after completion of the crystallization. Therefore, the agglomeration process of primary crystals played an important role for controlling LOLA crystal size. The agglomeration of LOLA crystals was governed by not only the physico-chemical parameters such as the temperature and feed concentration, but also the hydrodynamic parameters such as agitation speed and feeding rate. The crystal size and the shape have been shown to be important factors in product impurity and flowability. Thus, the optimum condition of LOLA crystallization process by drowning-out could be obtained.     

Exploration of unknown object by active touch of robot hand

This paper proposes a method of exploring the local shape of an unknown object using the force and torque information obtained from active touch. In the first, we present a method to estimate an unknown curvature, using rolling and sliding motion with a force/torque sensor attached to the fingertip of the hand. Then, the normal curvature equation from 2D curvatures is obtained. Finally we present a reconstruction algorithm of local geometry by using a normal curvature equation, which is composed of principal curvatures and principal directions. The method is tested by using a hand-arm system consisting of an industrial robot arm and an anthropomorphic robot hand with 6-axis force/torque sensor. The feasibility of the proposed method is experimentally validated for objects with simple geometries such as cylinder, spheres etc.     

Developmental variations in plasma leptin,leptin soluble receptor and their molar ratio in healthy infants

Background  

Leptin and its soluble receptor (sOB-R) are important to regulation of body composition but there are no data on the developmental variations in these plasma variables and their relationship with body composition measurements,