The use of novel photobleachable phthalocyanines to image DNA

The interaction of cationic photobleachable cobalt 1 and palladium 2 phthalocyanines (pcs) with calf thymus (CT) DNA was investigated by UV/vis spectrophotometric methods and gel electrophoresis. With the addition of pcs, the change in the thermal denaturation profile of DNA was observed. The results indicated that these molecules exhibit efficient DNA binding activity. The new cationic cobalt derivative 1 was characterized by elemental analysis, UV, IR and mass spectrophotometry.     

Sketched symbol recognition with auto-completion

Sketching is a natural mode of communication that can be used to support communication among humans. Recently there has been a growing interest in sketch recognition technologies for facilitating human–computer interaction in a variety of settings, including design, art, and teaching. Automatic sketch recognition is a challenging problem due to the variability in hand drawings, the variation in the order of strokes, and the similarity of symbol classes. In this paper, we focus on a more difficult task, namely the task of classifying sketched symbols before they are fully completed. There are two main challenges in recognizing partially drawn symbols. The first is deciding when a partial drawing contains sufficient information for recognizing it unambiguously among other visually similar classes in the domain. The second challenge is classifying the partial drawings correctly with this partial information. We describe a sketch auto-completion framework that addresses these challenges by learning visual appearances of partial drawings through semi-supervised clustering, followed by a supervised classification step that determines object classes. Our evaluation results show that, despite the inherent ambiguity in classifying partially drawn symbols, we achieve promising auto-completion accuracies for partial drawings. Furthermore, our results for full symbols match/surpass existing methods on full object recognition accuracies reported in the literature. Finally, our design allows real-time symbol classification, making our system applicable in real world applications.     

Design and implementation of a Secure Bandwidth Broker Discovery Protocol

Differentiated Services architecture definition lacks control level functionalities. One of the solutions proposed to fill this gap is Bandwidth Brokers (BB). Bandwidth Brokers are autonomous entities inside a network which is responsible for bandwidth management of the network along with other tasks. There is a lack of protocol for Bandwidth Brokers to discover other Bandwidth Brokers automatically. This study introduces a new Secure Bandwidth Broker Discovery Protocol (BBDP), which allows Bandwidth Brokers to automatically discover other Bandwidth Brokers. In this paper design principles, protocol details, working scenarios and implementation details of the BBDP protocol are presented.     

Approximate solutions for nonlinear oscillation of a mass attached to a stretched elastic wire

In this paper, the approximate solutions of the mathematical model of a mass attached to a stretched elastic wire are presented. At the beginning of the study, the equation of motion is derived in a detailed way. He’s max–min approach, He’s frequency–amplitude method and the parameter-expansion method are implemented to solve the established model. The numerical results are further compared with the approximate analytical solutions for both a small and large amplitude of oscillations, and a very good agreement is observed. The relative errors are computed to illustrate the strength of agreement between the numerical and approximate analytical results.     

Soft substructures of rings,fields and modules

Soft set theory, proposed by Molodtsov, has been regarded as an effective mathematical tool to deal with uncertainties. In this paper, we introduce and study soft subrings and soft ideals of a ring by using Molodtsov’s definition of the soft sets. Moreover, we introduce soft subfields of a field and soft submodule of a left $R$-module. Some related properties about soft substructures of rings, fields and modules are investigated and illustrated by many examples.     

Scalar Field Cosmology in <Emphasis Type="Italic">f</Emphasis>(<Emphasis Type="Italic">R</Emphasis>,<Emphasis Type="Italic">T</Emphasis>) Gravity with Λ

We study the behavior of cosmological parameters, massive and massless scalar fields (normal or phantom) with a scalar potential in f(R, T) theory of gravity for a flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) universe. To get exact solutions to the modified field equations, we use the f(R, T) = R + 2f(T) model by Harko et al. (T. Harko et al., Phys. Rev. D 84, 024020 (2011)), where R is the Ricci scalar and T is the trace of the energy momentum tensor. Our cosmological parameter solutions agree with the recent observational data. Finally, we discuss our results with various graphics.     

Quality of decision making and group norms.

Two studies investigated the impact of group norms for maintaining consensus versus norms for critical thought on group decisions in a modification of the biased sampling paradigm (G. Stasser & W. Titus, 1985). Both studies showed that critical norms improved the quality of decisions, whereas consensus norms did not. This effect appeared to be mediated by the perceived value of shared and unshared information: Consensus norm groups valued shared information more highly than critical groups did, and valence was a good predictor of decision outcome. In addition, the 2nd study showed that the group norm manipulation has no impact on individual decisions, consistent with the assumption that this is a group effect. Results suggest that the content of group norms is an important factor influencing the quality of group decision-making processes and that the content of group norms may be related to the group's proneness for groupthink. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Fatigue crack growth of filament wound GRP pipes with a surface crack under cyclic internal pressure

In this study, fatigue damage behavior of (±75₃) filament wound composite pipes with a surface crack under alternating internal pressure was investigated. The specimens were tested at room temperature and exposed to open ended fatigue tests in which the pipe can be deformed freely in the axial direction. The tests were carried out in accordance with the ASTM D-2992 standard. The alternating internal pressure was generated by conventional hydraulic oil. The low cycle tests were performed with 0.42 Hz frequency and R = 0.05 stress ratio. Glass reinforced polymer pipes (GRP) are made of E-glass/epoxy and have (±75₃) configuration. Surface cracks were machined in the axial direction of the pipes which have depth-to-thickness ratios a/t = 0.25–0.38–0.50 and depth to length ratio of a/c = 0.2. Tests were performed at three different loads of 50%, 40%, and 30% of ultimate hoop stress strength of unnotched pipes. The failure behavior of GRP pipes during the test was observed and fatigue test results were presented by means of (S–N) curves and delamination damage zone area-cycle (A–N) curves.     

Synthesis of highly-ordered TiO2 nanotubes for a hydrogen sensor

Highly-ordered, vertically oriented TiO₂ nanotubes are synthesized, and their hydrogen sensing properties are investigated. Self-organized TiO₂ nanotube arrays are grown by anodic oxidation of a titanium foil in an aqueous solution that contains 1 wt% hydrofluoric acid at 20 °C. We use a potential ramp at a rate of 100 mV s⁻¹, increasing from the initial open-circuit potential (OCP) to 20 V, and this final potential of 20 V is then held constant during the anodization process. The fabricated TiO₂ nanotubes are approximately 1 μm in length and 90 nm in diameter. For the sensor measurements, two platinum pads are used as electrodes on the TiO₂ nanotube arrays. The hydrogen sensing characteristics of the sensor are analyzed by measuring the sensor responses ((I − I₀)/I₀) in the temperature interval of 20–150 °C. We find that the sensitivity of the sensor is approximately 20 for 1000 ppm H₂ exposure at room temperature, and increases with increasing temperature. The sensing mechanism of the TiO₂ nanotube sensor could be explained with chemisorption of H₂ on the highly active nanotube surface.     

Changes in concentration of aflatoxin M1 during manufacture and storage of skim milk powder

In this study, skim milk powder was produced from cow's milk contaminated artificially with aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) at two different levels, 1.5 and 3.5 microg/liter (ppb), and the effects of process stages on the AFM1 contents were investigated. Pasteurization, concentration, and spray drying caused losses of about 16, 40, and 68%, respectively, in AFM1 content of the milk contaminated with 1.5 microg/liter AFM1, and losses of 12, 35, and 59%, respectively, in the milk contaminated with 3.5 microg/liter AFM1. These losses were found to be statisticially significant at the level of P < 0.01. After 3- and 6-month storage periods, AFM1 content of the skim milk powder produced from milk with 1.5 microg/liter AFM1 decreased by 2 and 5%, respectively, whereas these rates were 2 and 4%, respectively, for the skim milk powders made from milk with 3.5 microg/liter AFM1 (after adjustment for sample weight). Changes in AFM1 content of milk powder samples were found statistically insignificant (P > 0.05 and P > 0.01) for 3- and 6-month storage periods.