Lipids in human milk

I have reviewed recent (March 1995–December 1997) papers on human milk lipids including many on fatty acid (FA) composition. The effects of maternal diets on the profiles are apparent. However, more data on the composition of milk lipids are needed. It is noteworthy that so few papers on milk FA composition have reported analyses using high-resolution gas-liquid chromatography columns. Two of these were on milk from women in North America. The diets in North America are varied and the number of analyses few. We do not have a reliable data base showing the ranges of biologically important acids. Except for the gangliosides, few new data on the other lipids appeared during this period.     

Initiating scientific collaborations across career levels and disciplines – a network analysis on behavioral data

International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning - Collaborations are essential in research, especially in answering increasingly complex questions that require integrating...     

Dispersants for silicon carbide in water—A comparative study

The present work describes a comparative study on a pool of 12 dispersants for the de-agglomeration and stabilization of silicon carbide in aqueous suspensions with solids loading relevant for dip coating applications. As silicon carbide slurries may include sintering aids, different functional groups, molecular weight, and stabilization mechanisms were considered for the dispersants to be able to stabilize both slurry components. Additionally, pH effect, toxicity, additive compatibility, and foaming properties were considered, giving all the necessary information for developing new aqueous formulation of SiC suspensions, including advantages and disadvantages of the different candidates. Different de-agglomeration procedures, powder surface area, and calcination temperature were also considered to study the effect of the SiC surface properties. The outcome is that slurry stabilization provided by an alkaline environment at pH larger than 8‒9 is significantly more effective than slurry stabilization by any of the tested dispersants. Alkaline environments facilitate a negative surface charge on SiC particles and provide a stable electrostatic stabilization mechanism not observed in neutral or acidic environments. One among the dispersant candidates (FA 4404) seems to broaden slightly the range of stability toward the acidic regime. Anionic surfactants or block co-polymers tested exhibited no significant interaction with the SiC particles.     

A change detection model based on neighborhood correlation image analysis and decision tree classification

This study introduces a change detection model based on Neighborhood Correlation Image (NCI) logic. It is based on the fact that the same geographic area (e.g., a 3 × 3 pixel window) on two dates of imagery will tend to be highly correlated if little change has occurred, and uncorrelated when change occurs. Computing the piecewise correlation between two data sets provides valuable information regarding the location and numeric change value derived using contextual information within the specified neighborhood. Various neighborhood configurations (i.e., multi-level NCIs) were explored in the study using high spatial resolution multispectral imagery: smaller neighborhood sizes provided some detailed change information (such as a new patios added to an existing building) at the cost of introducing some noise (such as changes in shadows). Larger neighborhood sizes were useful for removing this noise but introduced some inaccurate change information (such as removing some linear feature changes). When combined with image classification using a machine learning decision tree (C5.0), classifications based on multi-level NCIs yielded superior results (e.g., using a 3-pixel circular radius neighborhood had a Kappa of 0.94), compared to the classification that did not incorporate NCIs (Kappa = 0.86).     

Towards Graph Transformation Based Generation of Visual Editors Using Eclipse

This work discusses the state-of-the-art of visual editor generation based on graph transformation concepts on one hand, and using the Eclipse technology which includes the Graphical Editor Framework (GEF), on the other hand. Due to existing shortcomings in both approaches, we present a combined approach for a tool environment that allows to generate a GEF-based editor from a formal, graph-transformation based visual language specification.     

Semantics-preserving dimensionality reduction: rough and fuzzy-rough-based approaches

Semantics-preserving dimensionality reduction refers to the problem of selecting those input features that are most predictive of a given outcome; a problem encountered in many areas such as machine learning, pattern recognition, and signal processing. This has found successful application in tasks that involve data sets containing huge numbers of features (in the order of tens of thousands), which would be impossible to process further. Recent examples include text processing and Web content classification. One of the many successful applications of rough set theory has been to this feature selection area. This paper reviews those techniques that preserve the underlying semantics of the data, using crisp and fuzzy rough set-based methodologies. Several approaches to feature selection based on rough set theory are experimentally compared. Additionally, a new area in feature selection, feature grouping, is highlighted and a rough set-based feature grouping technique is detailed.     

A Modular Approach to Mobile QoS Signaling— Motivation,Design & Implementation

In order to support mobile multimedia applications in next generation wireless IP-based networks, it is necessary to deliver seamless voice, video and data at high quality. Therefore, session mobility and Quality of Service (QoS) for mobile end systems are required. Within this article, the authors point out a new way to approach the problem. Instead of tightly coupling a modified QoS signaling mechanism with a certain mobility mechanism, a more generic and long-term solution is proposed and exemplified on the basis of existing IETF protocols. The connection-less IP network layer is enhanced by a lightweight and truly optional connection-oriented mobile network service, which offers the possibility to establish soft state unicast connections at the network layer. Hence, a connection-oriented network service is available within a radio access network (RAN) architecture to all end systems—mobile or fixed—independent of the application. Thereby, it is possible to integrate QoS and connectivity signaling for mobile end systems, as well as other connection-oriented services like explicit routing or load balancing.     

Converting XML DTDs to UML diagrams for conceptual data integration

Extensible Markup Language (XML) is fast becoming the new standard for data representation and exchange on the World Wide Web, e.g., in B2B e-commerce. Modern enterprises need to combine data from many sources in order to answer important business questions, creating a need for integration of web-based XML data. Previous web-based data integration efforts have focused almost exclusively on the logical level of data models, creating a need for techniques that focus on the conceptual level in order to communicate the structure and properties of the available data to users at a higher level of abstraction. The most widely used conceptual model at the moment is the Unified Modeling Language (UML).

This paper presents algorithms for automatically constructing UML diagrams from XML DTDs, enabling fast and easy graphical browsing of XML data sources on the web. The algorithms capture important semantic properties of the XML data such as precise cardinalities and aggregation (containment) relationships between the data elements. As a motivating application, it is shown how the generated diagrams can be used for the conceptual design of data warehouses based on web data, and an integration architecture is presented. The choice of data warehouses and On-Line Analytical Processing as the motivating application is another distinguishing feature of the presented approach.