Toward knowledge-rich data mining

This position paper proposes knowledge-rich data mining as a focus of research, and describes initial steps in pursuing it.     

Improvement of termite resistance,dimensional stability and mechanical properties of pine wood by paraffin impregnation

Paraffin has been used as surface protection of wood throughout the ages but its use for impregnation to improve wood resistance to biodegradation is recent. This study determined the main improvements on wood properties with paraffin impregnation. Healthy Pinus pinaster Ait. wood was impregnated with paraffin at different levels using a hot–cold process. Weight gain, equilibrium moisture content and dimensional stability (ASE) at 35 and 65 % relative humidity, termite durability against Reticulitermes grassei (Clément), bending strength, bending stiffness (MOE) and Janka hardness were determined. Density increased from 0.57 to 0.99, ASE ranged between 38–96 % and 16–71 % for 35 and 65 % relative humidity, respectively. Equilibrium moisture content decreased from 9.9 and 12.0 % to 0.8 and 3.6 % for 35 and 65 % relative humidity. Termite durability improved from level 4 to level 3 of attack, and higher termite mortality was found in treated wood (52 % against 17 %). Bending strength (MOR) increased with paraffin weight gain, reaching a 39 % increase. MOE also increased by about 13 % for wood with a weight gain around 80 %. Janka hardness increased significantly reaching about 40 % for wood with 80 % weight gain. Paraffin impregnated wood has improved properties with regard to equilibrium moisture content, dimensional stability and density, bending strength and Janka hardness, and resistance against termites.     

Bioactive phytochemicals in apple cultivars from the Portuguese protected geographical indication “Maçã de Alcobaça:” Basis for market segmentation

Phytochemical composition and antioxidant activity of eight apple (Malus domestica) cultivars (“Casa Nova,” “Fuji,” “Golden Delicious,” “Granny Smith,” “Jonagored,” “Reinette Grise,” “Royal Gala,” and “Starking”) from the “Maçã de Alcobaça” protected geographic indication, Portugal, were characterized to support market segmentation based on phytochemical content. Total phenolics, flavonoids, and anthocyanin contents, individual polyphenols and antioxidant activity were assessed in the flesh and skin of fruit at the ripe stage. A market segmentation of apple cultivars based on these bioactive phytochemicals is proposed. Fruit eaten with the peel can be segmented in three classes: (1) the flavonoid-rich “Starking,” “Reineta,” “Galaxy,” “Casa Nova,” Jonagored;” (2) the quercetin-rich “Fuji,” “Galaxy,” “Casa Nova;” and (3) flavonol and procyanidin-rich “Starking,” “Reinette,” “Jonagored,” “Casa Nova.” When apples were peeled before consumption, two phytochemical classes were proposed: (1) the flavonoid-rich “Reinette” and “Casa Nova,” and the (2) chlorogenic acid-rich “Reineta,” “Casa Nova,” and “Starking.”     

Silicon Application Increases Biomass Yield in Sunflower by Improving the Photosynthesizing Leaf Area

Silicon - Sunflower is an oilseed plant important for food and biodiesel production. One cheap way to increase sunflower production is by the application of silicon (Si), which has shown to be...     

Effect of Fuel Bed Width on Upslope Fire Spread: An Experimental Study

Fire Technology - In this work, a series of experiments across a porous fuel bed of pine excelsior with two sidewalls were conducted under different slope and fuel bed width conditions. It was...     

Determination of trace metals in naphtha by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry: Comparison between direct injection and microemulsion pretreatment procedures

Naphtha is a volatile petroleum fraction containing C4-C15 hydrocarbon compounds used as feedstock for petrochemical processes which are seriously affected by trace metals. Simple methods for copper, iron, lead and silicon determination in naphtha using graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GFAAS) have been developed. Two different approaches are presented: direct injection of the sample and oil-in-water microemulsion formation using a mixture of the sample, propan-1-ol and nitric acid aqueous solution. The calibration curves showed linear response for each concentration range with correlation coefficients ranging from 0.9728 to 0.9998. Precision figures of 1.7-20%, reported as the relative standard deviation, were calculated from at least twenty consecutive measurements of solutions containing the metal in a concentration level below 100 μg L⁻¹. The characteristic masses varied from 8.5 to 44 pg and the limit of detection, defined as the metal concentration that gives a response equivalent to three times the standard deviation of the blank (n = 10), was found to be within the range 0.01-26 μg L⁻¹. A critical analysis is presented by the authors emphasizing the advantages and limitations of both approaches. The proposed procedures have been used for copper, iron, lead and silicon determination in naphtha feeds processed in Braskem S.A. (Camacari, Bahia, Brazil).     

Stenosis in hemodialysis arteriovenous fistula: evaluation and treatment

Vascular access complications are one of the main causes associated with an increase in morbidity and mortality in stage 5 chronic kidney disease patients. The arteriovenous fistula is regarded as the vascular access of choice for hemodialysis (HD) because of its superior patency and lower complication rates. Stenosis is considered the major cause of dysfunction of arteriovenous fistula. Despite the relatively low thrombosis rates of arteriovenous fistula, surveillance programs are necessary for detection of stenosis. We report a case of a HD patient who had never achieved an adequate Kt/V since the start of maintenance HD. During the investigation, abnormal findings were found on physical examination of the fistula, in addition to an alteration in intra-access pressure (IAP) measurements. A venous stenosis was diagnosed by Doppler ultrasound and then promptly treated with percutaneous transluminal angioplasty. The purpose of the discussion is to highlight the peculiarities of arteriovenous fistulae, methods of surveillance, including physical examination, IAP, recirculation, and measurements of blood flow, and the importance of the correction procedures for the stenosis.     

Circulating Exosomal miRNAs as Biomarkers for the Diagnosis and Prognosis of Colorectal Cancer

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common malignant tumors in the gastrointestinal tract. It is a multifactorial disease that involves environmental factors, genetic factors, and lifestyle factors. Due to the absence of specific and sensitive biomarkers, CRC patients are usually diagnosed at an advanced stage and consequently suffer from a low 5-year overall survival rate. Despite improvements in surgical resection and adjuvant chemotherapy, the prognosis of patients with CRC remains unfavorable due to local and distant metastases. Several studies have shown that small noncoding RNAs, such as microRNAs packed in exosomes, are potential biomarkers in various types of cancers, including CRC, and that they can be detected in a stable form in both serum and plasma. In this review, we report the potential of circulating exosomal miRNAs to act as biomarkers for the diagnosis and prognosis of CRC.     

Social networks applied

Social networks have interesting properties. They influence our lives enormously without us being aware of the implications they raise. The authors investigate the following areas concerning social networks: how to exploit our unprecedented wealth of data and how we can mine social networks for purposes such as marketing campaigns; social networks as a particular form of influence, i.e.., the way that people agree on terminology and this phenomenon's implications for the way we build ontologies and the Semantic Web; social networks as something we can discover from data; the use of social network information to offer a wealth of new applications such as better recommendations for restaurants, trustworthy email senders, or (maybe) blind dates; investigation of the richness and difficulty of harvesting FOAF (friend-of-a-friend) information; and by looking at how information processing is bound to social context, the resulting ways that network topology's definition determines its outcomes.     

Tree Induction for Probability-Based Ranking

Tree induction is one of the most effective and widely used methods for building classification models. However, many applications require cases to be ranked by the probability of class membership. Probability estimation trees (PETs) have the same attractive features as classification trees (e.g., comprehensibility, accuracy and efficiency in high dimensions and on large data sets). Unfortunately, decision trees have been found to provide poor probability estimates. Several techniques have been proposed to build more accurate PETs, but, to our knowledge, there has not been a systematic experimental analysis of which techniques actually improve the probability-based rankings, and by how much. In this paper we first discuss why the decision-tree representation is not intrinsically inadequate for probability estimation. Inaccurate probabilities are partially the result of decision-tree induction algorithms that focus on maximizing classification accuracy and minimizing tree size (for example via reduced-error pruning). Larger trees can be better for probability estimation, even if the extra size is superfluous for accuracy maximization. We then present the results of a comprehensive set of experiments, testing some straightforward methods for improving probability-based rankings. We show that using a simple, common smoothing method—the Laplace correction—uniformly improves probability-based rankings. In addition, bagging substantially improves the rankings, and is even more effective for this purpose than for improving accuracy. We conclude that PETs, with these simple modifications, should be considered when rankings based on class-membership probability are required.