Rotation-invariant discrimination between almost similar objects

A modified circular harmonic filter may be used for the rotation-invariant discrimination of a target from another object which contains the same pattern as the target. The method is illustrated by the experimental rotation-invariant detection of the letter F in the presence of the letter E.     

Note on “Unrelated parallel-machine scheduling with deteriorating maintenance activities”

In this note, we prove that both problems studied by Cheng et al. [Cheng, T. C. E., Hsu, C.-J., & Yang, D.-L. (2011). Unrelated parallel-machine scheduling with deteriorating maintenance activities. Computers and Industrial Engineering, 60, 602–605] can be solved in O(n^m+3) time no matter what the processing time of a job after a maintenance activity is greater or less than its processing time before the maintenance activity, where m is the number of machines and n is the number of jobs.     

Extending UML to model Web 2.0‐based context‐aware applications

Web 2.0 Mashups offer entirely new opportunities for context‐aware application (CAA) developers by integrating Web 2.0 technologies to facilitate interoperability among heterogeneous context‐aware systems. From a software engineering perspective, a visualized approach for Web 2.0‐based CAA modeling is crucial. Current CAA development, however, cannot provide a conceptual model for Web 2.0‐based CAA. Therefore, the development efficiency and potential for reuse are decreased. The UML is a general purpose modeling language with potential for use in many application domains. However, UML often lacks elements needed to model concepts in specific domains, such as Web 2.0‐based CAA modeling. To address the above issues, this study presents the Web 2.0‐based CAA UML profile, a UML profile for modeling Web 2.0‐based CAA. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Segmenting customers by transaction data with concept hierarchy

The segmentation of customers is crucial for an organization wishing to develop appropriate promotion strategies for different clusters. Clustering customers provides an in-depth understanding of their behavior. However, previous studies have paid little attention to the similarity of different items in transaction. Lack of categories and concept levels of items, results from item-based segmentation methods are not as good as expected. Through employing a concept hierarchy of items, this study proposes a segmentation methodology to identify similarities between customers. First, the dissimilarity between transaction sequences is defined. Second, we adopt hierarchical clustering method to segment customers by their transaction data with concept hierarchy of consumed items. After segmentation, three cluster validation indices are used for optimizing the number of clusters of customers. Through the compassion of normalized index, the segmentation method proposed by this study rendered better results than other traditional methods.     

Reconfigurable Web wrapper agents

Web wrapper agents exploit online Web data sources, facilitating information integration and reuse. With the DeepSpot Agent Toolbox, users can automate virtually all types of Web browsing sessions simply by browsing the target Web sites.     

HSPA4 Is a Biomarker of Placenta Accreta and Enhances the Angiogenesis Ability of Vessel Endothelial Cells

Placenta accreta spectrum (PAS) accounts for 7% of maternal mortality and is associated with intraoperative and postoperative morbidity caused by massive blood loss, infection, and adjacent organ damage. The aims of this study were to identify the protein biomarkers of PAS and to further explore their pathogenetic roles in PAS. For this purpose, we collected five placentas from pregnant subjects with PAS complications and another five placentas from normal pregnancy (NP) cases. Then, we enriched protein samples by specifically isolating the trophoblast villous, deeply invading into the uterine muscle layer in the PAS patients. Next, fluorescence-based two-dimensional difference gel electrophoresis (2D-DIGE) and MALDI-TOF/MS were used to identify the proteins differentially abundant between PAS and NP placenta tissues. As a result, nineteen spots were determined as differentially abundant proteins, ten and nine of which were more abundant in PAS and NP placenta tissues, respectively. Then, specific validation with western blot assay and immunohisto/cytochemistry (IHC) assay confirmed that heat shock 70 kDa protein 4 (HSPA4) and chorionic somatomammotropin hormone (CSH) were PAS protein biomarkers. Further tube formation assays demonstrated that HSPA4 promoted the in vitro angiogenesis ability of vessel endothelial cells, which is consistent with the in vivo scenario of PAS complications. In this study, we not only identified PAS protein biomarkers but also connected the promoted angiogenesis with placenta invasion, investigating the pathogenetic mechanism of PAS.     

Effects of PCSK-9 Inhibition by Alirocumab Treatments on Biliary Cirrhotic Rats

Hyperlipidemia and oxidative stress with elevated oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL) exacerbate hepatic inflammation and fibrosis. The plasma level of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) is controlled by proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin 9 (PCSK9). Alirocumab is a monoclonal antibody that decreases LDL via inhibiting PCSK9 function. Apart from lipid-lowering effects, alirocumab exerts anti-inflammation, anti-angiogenesis and anti-oxidant effects. This study aims to investigate the impact of alirocumab treatment on common bile duct ligation (BDL)-induced biliary cirrhotic rats. After a 4-week treatment of alirocumab, the hemodynamic data, blood biochemistry, ox-LDL level, oxidative stress markers, severity of hepatic encephalopathy and abnormal angiogenesis of BDL rats were measured and compared to the control group. BDL rats presented cirrhotic pictures and elevated ammonia, total cholesterol, LDL and ox-LDL levels compared to the control group. Alirocumab decreased plasma levels of total cholesterol, LDL, and oxidative stress markers; however, it did not affect the hemodynamics, liver and renal biochemistry, and the plasma levels of ammonia and ox-LDL. The motor activities, portal-systemic collaterals and mesenteric vascular density were not significantly different between alirocumab-treated and control groups. In addition, it did not affect hepatic inflammation, intrahepatic angiogenesis, liver fibrosis and free cholesterol accumulation in the liver of BDL rats. In conclusion, PCSK9 inhibition by alirocumab treatment ameliorates hyperlipidemia and systemic oxidative stress in biliary cirrhotic rats. However, it does not affect the plasma level of ox-LDL, intrahepatic inflammation and fibrosis. In addition, PCSK9 inhibition has a neutral effect on abnormal angiogenesis and hepatic encephalopathy in biliary cirrhotic rats.     

Domain–Specific High–Level Modeling and Synthesis for ATM Switch Prototyping

ATM switch, the core technology of an ATM networking system, is one of the major products in Fujitsu telecommunication business. However, current gate–level design methodology can no longer satisfy its stringent time–to–market requirement. It becomes necessary to exploit high–level methodology to specify and synthesize the design at an abstraction level higher than logic gates. This paper presents our prototyping experience on domain–specific high–level modeling and synthesis for Fujitsu ATM switch design. We propose a high–level design methodology using VHDL, where ATM switch architectural features are considered during behavior modeling, and a high–level synthesis compiler, MEBS, is prototyped to synthesize the behavior model down to a gate–level implementation. Since the specific ATM switch architecture is incorporated into both modeling and synthesis phases, a high–quality design is efficiently derived. The synthesis results shows that given the design constraints, the proposed high–level design methodology can produce a gate–level implementation by MEBS with about 15 percent area reduction in shorter design cycle when compared with manual design.     

Muscle Wasting in Chronic Kidney Disease: Mechanism and Clinical Implications—A Narrative Review

Muscle wasting, known to develop in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), is a deleterious consequence of numerous complications associated with deteriorated renal function. Muscle wasting in CKD mainly involves dysregulated muscle protein metabolism and impaired muscle cell regeneration. In this narrative review, we discuss the cardinal role of the insulin-like growth factor 1 and myostatin signaling pathways, which have been extensively investigated using animal and human studies, as well as the emerging concepts in microRNA- and gut microbiota-mediated regulation of muscle mass and myogenesis. To ameliorate muscle loss, therapeutic strategies, including nutritional support, exercise programs, pharmacological interventions, and physical modalities, are being increasingly developed based on advances in understanding its underlying pathophysiology.