A Novel Self-Organizing Approach to Automatic Traffic Light Management System for Road Traffic Network

Wireless Personal Communications - Traffic network is basically a “network of networks” consisting of mainly two types of networks: road network and a travel network. Due to drastic...     

A Dynamic Inertial Weight Strategy in Micro PSO for Swarm Robots

Wireless Personal Communications - A relatively new area of research and development is Swarm Robotics. It is a part of the swarm intelligence field. In the proposed paper, we shall use swarm...     

Engineering New Microvascular Networks On-Chip: Ingredients,Assembly, and Best Practices

Tissue engineered grafts show great potential as regenerative implants for diseased or injured tissues within the human body. However, these grafts suffer from poor nutrient perfusion and waste transport, thus decreasing their viability post-transplantation. Graft vascularization is therefore a major area of focus within tissue engineering because biologically relevant conduits for nutrient and oxygen perfusion can improve viability post-implantation. Many researchers used microphysiological systems as testing platforms for potential grafts owing to an ability to integrate vascular networks as well as biological characteristics such as fluid perfusion, 3D architecture, compartmentalization of tissue-specific materials, and biophysical and biochemical cues. Although many methods of vascularizing these systems exist, microvascular self-assembly has great potential for bench-to-clinic translation as it relies on naturally occurring physiological events. In this review, the past decade of literature is highlighted, and the most important and tunable components yielding a self-assembled vascular network on chip are critically discussed: endothelial cell source, tissue-specific supporting cells, biomaterial scaffolds, biochemical cues, and biophysical forces. This paper discusses the bioengineered systems of angiogenesis, vasculogenesis, and lymphangiogenesis and includes a brief overview of multicellular systems. It concludes with future avenues of research to guide the next generation of vascularized microfluidic models.     

Epidemiological study of hypertension and its determinants in an urban population of North India

OBJECTIVES: To determine age-specific prevalence of hypertension and blood pressure (BP) levels in relation to diet and lifestyle factors in North Indians. DESIGN AND SETTING: Cross-sectional survey in 20 randomly selected streets in Moradabad, North India. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A total of 1806 subjects from North India (904 males and 902 females) age range 25-64 years. The survey methods were as follows: dietary diaries for 7 days food intake record; BP measurements; physician administered questionnaire and anthropometric measurements. Diagnosis of hypertension was based on new World Health Organization/International Society of Hypertension (WHO/ISH) criteria. Risk factors were assessed based on WHO guidelines. RESULTS: The prevalence of hypertension according to WHO/ISH criteria was 23.7% and by old WHO criteria 13.3%. In the WHO/ISH hypertensive group, isolated diastolic hypertension was present in 47.3% males and 40.6% females. Males have a slightly higher prevalence than females in the young age group, however, the prevalence rates are comparable in the older age groups. In both sexes, the prevalence rates and BP level increased with older age. Multivariate analysis revealed that age, higher body mass index, central obesity and higher socioeconomic status were independently and strongly associated with hypertension in both sexes. Higher dietary fat and salt intake and lower physical activity were weakly but significantly associated with hypertension. CONCLUSION: Association of higher socioeconmic status, higher body mass index and central obesity in North Indian adults with higher fat intake, lower physical activity and higher prevalence and level of hypertension indicate that these populations may benefit by decreasing the dietary fat intake and increasing physical activity, with an aim to decrease central obesity for decreasing hypertension in North Indians.     

Protein analysis of human von Ebner saliva and a method for its collection from the foliate papillae

The lingual serous glands of von Ebner are located close to the foliate and circumvallate papillae. Saliva secreted by these glands provides the immediate environment of the taste buds, and it has been hypothesized that it modulates taste perception. The purpose of this study was to develop a technique for collection of unstimulated and stimulated saliva from human von Ebner glands. Saliva was collected under resting conditions and after application of various gustatory stimuli (sweet, sour, salt, and bitter) by insertion of periostrips into the folds of the foliate papillae of healthy human volunteers. Stimulated saliva was also collected in glass microcapillaries or micropipettes. The flow-rates of unstimulated von Ebner saliva were 2.3 +/- 0.6 (S.E.) microL/min and 4.5 +/- 1.2 (S.E.) microL/min with 1% citric acid stimulation. The protein content was 2.5 +/- 0.5 (S.E.) mg/mL. The SDS gel electrophoretic profile of von Ebner saliva revealed two protein bands of Mr 18,000 that were identified on Western blots as von Ebner gland (VEG) proteins. Although lingual lipase activity was detected at very low levels by enzyme assay, this protein was not detected on Western blots. This collection technique should prove useful for analysis of specific functions associated with secretion from von Ebner glands.     

Conversion of acrylonitrile-based precursors to carbon fibres

The progress of stabilization of two compositions of acrylic fibres with various orientations has been followed by a variety of techniques. The thermooxidative treatments for stabilization have been carried out in a continuous process and also in a batch process under free shrinkage, constant length and constant tension conditions. The morphological model of acrylic fibres consists of an alternating sequence of laterally ordered and laterally disordered regions along the fibre direction. This structure is consistent with the observations based on small-angle X-ray scattering of copper- impregnated precursor fibres and thermomechanical response, thermal stress development, calorimetry, wide- and small-angle X-ray scattering and sonic modu-lus measured at different extents of stabilization. Lateral as well as orientational order in these fibres can be increased markedly through a high-temperature deformation process prior to stabilization. An increase in perfection and extent of order is observed in the early stages of stabilization. There is also a simultaneous decrease in the orientation of the disordered phase at this stage and the extent of this decrease depends on the axial constraints imposed on the fibre. Little difference in the rate of stabilization is observed as measured by density or oxygen uptake for fibres with different extents of orientation, lateral order or restraint. Fibres containing itaconic add, a stabilization catalyst did show an increased rate of stabilization. Inferences have been drawn regarding additional research pertaining to achieving high order in precursor fibres, minimizing orientational relaxation during oxidative stabilization, and the techniques for monitoring the extents of the stabilization treatment and the changes in relevant morphological parameters.     

Age and gender differences in cardiac reactivity and subjective emotion responses to emotional autobiographical memories.

This research reports age and gender differences in cardiac reactivity and subjective responses to the induction of autobiographical memories related to anger, fear, sadness, and happiness. Heart rate (HR) and subjective state were assessed at baseline and after the induction of each emotion in 113 individuals (61 men, 52 women; 66% European American, 34% African American) ranging in age from 15 to 88 years (M = 50.0; SD = 20.2). Cardiac reactivity was lower in older individuals; however, for anger and fear, these age effects were significantly more pronounced for the women than the men. There were no gender differences in subjective responses, however, suggesting that the lower cardiac reactivity found among older people is dependent on gender and the specific emotion assessed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hiding biometric data

With the wide spread utilization of biometric identification systems, establishing the authenticity of biometric data itself has emerged as an important research issue. The fact that biometric data is not replaceable and is not secret, combined with the existence of several types of attacks that are possible in a biometric system, make the issue of security/integrity of biometric data extremely critical. We introduce two applications of an amplitude modulation-based watermarking method, in which we hide a user's biometric data in a variety of images. This method has the ability to increase the security of both the hidden biometric data (e.g., eigen-face coefficients) and host images (e.g., fingerprints). Image adaptive data embedding methods used in our scheme lead to low visibility of the embedded signal. Feature analysis of host images guarantees high verification accuracy on watermarked (e.g., fingerprint) images.