Trading privacy with incentives in mobile commerce: A game theoretic approach

In mobile commerce, companies provide location based services to mobile users, who report their locations with a certain level of granularity to maintain a degree of anonymity. This level of granularity depends on their perceived risk as well as the incentives they receive in the form of monetary benefits or improved mobile services. This paper formulates a quantitative model in which information theoretic metrics such as entropy, quantify the anonymity level of mobile users. The individual perceived risks of users and the benefits they obtain are defined as functions of their chosen location information granularity. The interaction between the mobile commerce company and its users is investigated using mechanism design techniques as a privacy game. The user best responses and optimal strategies for the company are derived under budgetary constraints on incentives, which are provided to users in order to convince them to share their private information at the desired level of granularity. Information limitations in the system are analyzed to capture more realistic scenarios where the companies do not have access to user utility functions. Iterative distributed algorithm and regression learning methods are investigated to design mechanisms that overcome these limitations. The results obtained are demonstrated with a numerical example and simulations based on real GPS data.     

Hemodialysis‐related headache

Headache is one of the most frequently encountered neurological symptoms during hemodialysis. According to International Classification of Headache criteria dialysis‐related headache was defined as the headache occurring during hemodialysis with no specific characteristic. It resolves spontaneously within 72 hours after the hemodialysis session ends. There are few studies in the literature investigating the clinical features of dialysis headache. The pathophysiology of hemodialysis‐related headache is not known, but various triggering factors have been identified, including changes in blood pressure, serum sodium and magnesium levels during hemodialysis sessions, caffeine deprivation and stress. The aim of this article is to evaluate and analyze features of headache in patients undergoing hemodialysis.     

Synthesis and application of phenylcarbamodithioate compound for steel protection

Phenyldithiocarbamate compound has been synthesized and studied as corrosion inhibitor for steel. Dithiocarbamate (DTC) compounds with linear alkyl groups are good inhibitors, but their stability is quite low in acidic solutions. It should be noted that long-term stability is important for practical applications, in order to avoid excess use of chemicals. So, we have synthesized phenyl substituted DTC which offers strong inhibition efficiency and extra stability. This new inhibitor is chemically adsorbed on steel through its DTC group, while the aromatic ring provides extra stability and long-term efficiency. For the assessment of corrosion kinetics, we have utilized potentiodynamic and ac impedance studies; also solution assay analysis was realized with atomic absorption spectroscopy. It was revealed that inhibitor exhibits remarkably high efficiency, even under elevated temperature conditions. At 55 °C temperature conditions, i_corr value decreased from 5050 to 154 μA cm^?2, with the addition of 500 ppm inhibitor. The long-term stability of inhibitor was also tested and 85.93% efficiency was obtained after three days of exposure period for 500 ppm concentration.     

A Markov Decision Process based flow assignment framework for heterogeneous network access

We consider a scenario where devices with multiple networking capabilities access networks with heterogeneous characteristics. In such a setting, we address the problem of efficient utilization of multiple access networks by devices via optimal assignment of traffic flows with given utilities to different networks. We develop and analyze a device middleware functionality that monitors network characteristics and employs a Markov Decision Process (MDP) based control scheme that in conjunction with stochastic characterization of the available bit rate and delay of the networks generates an optimal policy for allocation of flows to different networks. The optimal policy maximizes, under available bit rate and delay constraints on the access networks, a discounted reward which is a function of the flow utilities. The flow assignment policy is periodically updated and is consulted by the flows to dynamically perform network selection during their lifetimes. We perform measurement tests to collect traces of available bit rate and delay characteristics on Ethernet and WLAN networks on a work day in a corporate work environment. We implement our flow assignment framework in ns-2 and simulate the system performance for a set of elastic video-like flows using the collected traces. We demonstrate that the MDP based flow assignment policy leads to significant enhancement in the QoS provisioning (higher rate allocation, lower packet delays and packet loss rates) for the flows and better access network utilization, as compared to policies that allocate flows to different networks using greedy approaches or heuristics like average available bit rate on the networks.     

Vitamin A status of healthy children in Manisa,Turkey

Background  

Vitamin A deficiency is a major public health nutrition problem in the developing world. Even subclinical Vitamin A deficiency is associated with increased childhood mortality. Severe maternal vitamin A deficiency may cause increased mortality in the first months of life. There have been a limited number of studies regarding vitamin A status in Turkey. The aim of this study was to assess vitamin A status of healthy children in Manisa, Turkey.     

Poly(N-methyl pyrrole) and its copolymer with pyrrole for mild steel protection

In this study, it was aimed to overcome disadvantages of polypyrrole films like water up taking and resulting low stability, via copolymerization of pyrrole and N-methyl pyrrole and preparing their bilayer films. Poly(N-methyl pyrrole) coating was synthesized electrochemically on mild steel and its corrosion performance has been investigated in 3.5% NaCl aqueous solution, by using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), anodic polarization curves and open circuit potential-time relation. This coating was found to have lower protection efficiency than single poly(pyrrole) coating. This case was related to weak adsorption behavior of poly(N-methyl pyrrole) film on mild steel. On the other hand, when this film was applied as a top coat on polypyrrole coated sample; the obtained coating system hindered the attack of corrosive environment and protected mild steel efficiently. The underlying poly(pyrrole) film was strongly adherent and the top poly(N-methyl pyrrole) coat improved barrier property by decreasing permeability and water mobility. Poly(pyrrole-co-N-methyl pyrrole) has also been synthesized from aqueous oxalic acid solutions containing various ratios of these two monomers. The copolymerization rate and protective behavior of copolymer were strongly affected by the monomer concentration ratio. The ratio of 1:3 (N-methyl pyrrole/pyrrole) gave the most protective copolymer coating and it exhibited better barrier property than single PPy. This was related to introduction of -CH₃ group which creates hydrophobic effect, when compared to -NH group of pyrrole unit. However, the solution with the ratio of 1:1 yielded a coating which had lower protection efficiency than single poly(pyrrole) film. This behavior was attributed to significant decrease in adsorption strength as the ratio of n-methyl pyrrole increased.     

Extrapulmonary tuberculosis with multiple localizations in a patient with end‐stage renal disease

Bacteremia is a common complication for hemodialysis (HD) patients (pts) with an indwelling central venous catheter (CVC). We studied our experience with CAB and noted that CAB occurred at an average of 96 ± 98 days after CVC insertion. We wondered what percentage of CAB occurred in the first 21 days after CVC insertion and the spectrum of organisms. We prospectively collected data on all HD pts from 3 centers with a CVC who developed bacteremia between 1/1/03 and 8/31/04. Pts who developed CAB with an identifiable source of bacteremia were excluded. 131 episodes of CAB were identified; 34 (25.95%) occurred in ≤21 days. The mean ± SDEV age of the pts developing CAB > 21 days and ≤21 days was 63 ± 17 and 61.5 ± 15.4 years, respectively. Table 1 outlines the spectrum of organisms. There was a significantly greater incidence of CAB with Staphylococcus aureus (SA) and a significantly lower incidence of Staphylococcus epidermidis (SE) in the pts in whom a CAB developed ≤21 days after insertion.  

  Table 1     

8.

Long wavelength MOCVD grown InGaAsN-GaAsN quantum well lasers emitting at 1.378-1.41 /spl mu/m     

Yeh  J.-Y. Tansu  N. Mawst  L.J. 《Electronics letters》2004,40(12):739-741

Low threshold InGaAsN QW lasers with lasing wavelength at 1.378 and 1.41 /spl mu/m were demonstrated by metal organic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD). The threshold current densities are 563 and 1930 A/cm/sup 2/ for the 1.378 and 1.41 /spl mu/m emitting lasers, respectively. The significant improvement of device performance is believed due to utilisation of high temperature annealing and introduction of GaAsN barriers to suppress the resulting wavelength blue shift. A comparable characteristic temperature coefficient of the external differential quantum efficiency, T/sub 1/, is observed for the InGaAsN-GaAsN QW laser compared to similar InGaAsN/GaAs structures.     

9.

Characterization of digital waveforms using thermodynamic analogs: applications to detection of materials defects     

Hughes MS  Marsh JN  Hall CS  Savéry D  Lanza GM  Wickline SA 《IEEE transactions on ultrasonics, ferroelectrics, and frequency control》2005,52(9):1555-1564

We describe characterization of digital signals using analogs of thermodynamic quantities: the topological entropy, Shannon entropy, thermodynamic energy, partition function, specific heat at constant volume, and an idealized version of Shannon entropy in the limit of digitizing with infinite dynamic range and sampling rate. We show that analysis based on these quantities is capable of detecting differences between digital signals that are undetectable by conventional methods of characterization based on peak-to-peak amplitude or signal energy. We report the results of applying thermodynamic quantities to a problem from nondestructive materials evaluation: detection of foreign objects (FO) embedded near the surface of thin graphite/epoxy laminates using backscattered waveforms obtained by C-scanning the laminate. The characterization problem was to distinguish waveforms acquired from the region containing the FO from those acquired outside. In all cases the thermodynamic analogs exhibit significant increases (up to 20-fold) in contrast and for certain types of FO materials permit detection when energy or amplitude methods fail altogether.     

10.

In vitro cytotoxicity of monticellite based bioactive ceramic powder synthesized from boron derivative waste     

Banu Barutça  Levent Köroğlu  Erhan Ayas  A. Tansu Koparal 《Ceramics International》2018,44(7):8094-8099

The cytotoxicity of monticellite based bioactive ceramic powder, which was synthesized from boron derivative waste has been determined by in vitro assays of MTT, NRU, and JC-1 staining. The toxicity of powder on different mammalian cell lines (3T3-L1, HUVEC, CRL-2120) was evaluated at the concentrations of 10, 100, 200, 400 and 800?µg/mL to justify its potential for biomedical applications. The obtained results showed that monticellite based bioactive ceramic powder possesses not only bioactive feature but also biocompatible characteristic at the concentration range of 10–200?µg/mL. Hence, monticellite based bioactive ceramics have high potential as a bone graft substitute for bone void filling and coating applications.     

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Long wavelength MOCVD grown InGaAsN-GaAsN quantum well lasers emitting at 1.378-1.41 /spl mu/m

Low threshold InGaAsN QW lasers with lasing wavelength at 1.378 and 1.41 /spl mu/m were demonstrated by metal organic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD). The threshold current densities are 563 and 1930 A/cm/sup 2/ for the 1.378 and 1.41 /spl mu/m emitting lasers, respectively. The significant improvement of device performance is believed due to utilisation of high temperature annealing and introduction of GaAsN barriers to suppress the resulting wavelength blue shift. A comparable characteristic temperature coefficient of the external differential quantum efficiency, T/sub 1/, is observed for the InGaAsN-GaAsN QW laser compared to similar InGaAsN/GaAs structures.     

Characterization of digital waveforms using thermodynamic analogs: applications to detection of materials defects

We describe characterization of digital signals using analogs of thermodynamic quantities: the topological entropy, Shannon entropy, thermodynamic energy, partition function, specific heat at constant volume, and an idealized version of Shannon entropy in the limit of digitizing with infinite dynamic range and sampling rate. We show that analysis based on these quantities is capable of detecting differences between digital signals that are undetectable by conventional methods of characterization based on peak-to-peak amplitude or signal energy. We report the results of applying thermodynamic quantities to a problem from nondestructive materials evaluation: detection of foreign objects (FO) embedded near the surface of thin graphite/epoxy laminates using backscattered waveforms obtained by C-scanning the laminate. The characterization problem was to distinguish waveforms acquired from the region containing the FO from those acquired outside. In all cases the thermodynamic analogs exhibit significant increases (up to 20-fold) in contrast and for certain types of FO materials permit detection when energy or amplitude methods fail altogether.     

In vitro cytotoxicity of monticellite based bioactive ceramic powder synthesized from boron derivative waste

The cytotoxicity of monticellite based bioactive ceramic powder, which was synthesized from boron derivative waste has been determined by in vitro assays of MTT, NRU, and JC-1 staining. The toxicity of powder on different mammalian cell lines (3T3-L1, HUVEC, CRL-2120) was evaluated at the concentrations of 10, 100, 200, 400 and 800?µg/mL to justify its potential for biomedical applications. The obtained results showed that monticellite based bioactive ceramic powder possesses not only bioactive feature but also biocompatible characteristic at the concentration range of 10–200?µg/mL. Hence, monticellite based bioactive ceramics have high potential as a bone graft substitute for bone void filling and coating applications.