Active XML-based Web data integration

Today, the Web is the largest source of information worldwide. There is currently a strong trend for decision-making applications such as Data Warehousing (DW) and Business Intelligence (BI) to move onto the Web, especially in the cloud. Integrating data into DW/BI applications is a critical and time-consuming task. To make better decisions in DW/BI applications, next generation data integration poses new requirements to data integration systems, over those posed by traditional data integration. In this paper, we propose a generic, metadata-based, service-oriented, and event-driven approach for integrating Web data timely and autonomously. Beside handling data heterogeneity, distribution and interoperability, our approach satisfies near real-time requirements and realize active data integration. For this sake, we design and develop a framework that utilizes Web standards (e.g., XML and Web services) for tackling data heterogeneity, distribution and interoperability issues. Moreover, our framework utilizes Active XML (AXML) to warehouse passive data as well as services to integrate active and dynamic data on-the-fly. AXML embedded services and changes detection services ensure near real-time data integration. Furthermore, the idea of integrating Web data actively and autonomously revolves around mining events logged by the data integration environment. Therefore, we propose an incremental XML-based algorithm for mining association rules from logged events. Then, we define active rules dynamically upon mined data to automate and reactivate integration tasks. Finally, as a proof of concept, we implement a framework prototype as a Web application using open-source tools.     

Synthesis and Anticancer Properties of Oxazepines Related to Azaisoerianin and IsoCoQuines

In this article, we report the synthesis and biological properties of a series of novel oxazepines related to isoCA-4 having significant antitumor properties. Among them, three oxazepin-9-ol derivatives display a nanomolar or a sub-nanomolar cytotoxicity level against five human cancer cell lines (HCT116, U87, A549, MCF7, and K562). It was demonstrated that the lead compound in this series inhibits tubulin assembly with an IC₅₀ value of 1 μM and totally arrests the cellular cycle in the G2/M phase at the low concentration of 5 nM in HCT116 and K562 cells. Molecular modeling studies perfectly corroborates these promising results.     

Quantized based image watermarking in an independent domain

This paper presents a performance study for two well known quantized based watermarking schemes Scalar Costa Scheme (SCS), and Trellis Coded Quantization scheme (TCQ) in an independent domain. For our study, the independent domain is obtained by the combination of the cited schemes with Independent Component Analysis (ICA). The Independent Component Analysis is used while inserting and extracting the message. Thus a performance compromise improvement of the original SCS and TCQ schemes in terms of robustness, capacity, and security is shown. Then the obtained schemes performances are compared to the Spread Transform (ST) based scheme well known for its proven good robustness properties. Our results show that, using watermarking with side information in independent domain permits to improve the global SCS and TCQ schemes performances. For example, in the case of SCS, by studying the Bit Error Rate (BER) in function of the watermark to noise ratio (WNR), the robustness has been improved by 20 dB (1 decade) when WNR is equal to 0 dB. Moreover, the capacity study shows for the same WNR=0 dB, the amount of information to be transmitted without error for a given noise level of the proposed SCS combined with ICA scheme (SCS-ICA) is much higher than that of the existing schemes. Finally, the study of the probability density functions (PDF) of the original and marked signals has shown that the Cachin-security level of the TCQ in an independent domain scheme (TCQ-ICA) is the best one compared to the other known schemes.     

Kinetic and equilibrium study for the sorption of cadmium(II) ions from aqueous phase by eucalyptus bark

The efficiency of eucalyptus bark as a low cost sorbent for removing cadmium ions from aqueous solution has been investigated in batch mode. The equilibrium data could be well described by the Langmuir isotherm but a worse fit was obtained by the Freundlich model. The five linearized forms of the Langmuir equation as well as the non-linear curve fitting analysis method were discussed. Results show that the non-linear method may be a better way to obtain the Langmuir parameters. Maximum cadmium uptake obtained at a temperature of 20 degrees C was 14.53mgg(-1). The influence of temperature on the sorption isotherms of cadmium has been also studied. The monolayer sorption capacity increased from 14.53 to 16.47 when the temperature was raised from 20 to 50 degrees C. The DeltaG degrees values were negative, which indicates that the sorption was spontaneous in nature. The effect of experimental parameters such as contact time, cadmium initial concentration, sorbent dose, temperature, solution initial pH, agitation speed, and ionic strength on the sorption kinetics of cadmium was investigated. Pseudo-second-order model was evaluated using the six linear forms as well as the non-linear curve fitting analysis method. Modeling of kinetic results shows that sorption process is best described by the pseudo-second-order model using the non-linear method. The pseudo-second-order model parameters were function of the initial concentration, the sorbent dose, the solution pH, the agitation speed, the temperature, and the ionic strength.     

Polyvinyl chloride composites filled with olive stone flour: Mechanical,thermal, and water absorption properties

The production of olive oil leads to considerable amounts of solid waste mainly composed of hard woody endocarp called olive stones. The aim of this work is to explore the possible use of ground olive stones as fillers for polyvinyl chloride (PVC), to elaborate a cost‐effective composite material with a solid loading of up to 50 wt %. After grinding, the ensuing olive stone flour (OSF) was incorporated into a PVC matrix via melt compounding and injection molding to elaborate PVC‐OSF‐based composites with a filler content up to 50 wt %. The evolution of the mechanical performance, the impact property, the water absorbance, and wear resistance behavior, according to the OSF content, were investigated. The addition of OSF was shown to enhance the stiffness of the matrix, but at the expense of its mechanical strength. However, the strength of the composite did not fall as low as 30 MPa, and therefore, meets the requirements for many applications in plastic‐based materials. The thermal properties of the ensuing composites were also studied by thermogravimetric analysis. The results show that the addition of OSF may be effective in increasing the stiffness of the PVC‐based composite and in reducing the solid residue in the olive oil industry production. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014 , 131, 41083.     

Investigation of a new solar greenhouse drying system for peppers

Solar drying is the oldest preservation technique of agricultural products using several types of solar crop dryers based mostly on solar energy, which is abundant, renewable and sustainable. This study aimed to modeling a new solar greenhouse drying system (SGDS) for the drying of red peppers. The proposed mixed-mode (SGDS) consists of two main parts, namely a flat plate solar air collector and an experimental greenhouse. A mathematical model is developed using the TRNSYS simulation program to predict the change in the drying kinetics during the drying process under our proposed (SGDS). The experimental part consisted in testing the solar air collector to investigate its performance. The test showed that this solar air collector has a good performance; its efficiency varies between 0, 5 and 0, 65. The model was validated with the observed data and showed good agreement with experimental values. The influence of the area of the product to be dried, airflow rate and collector area, on moisture content changes, air temperature and humidity inside the greenhouse was studied. For the case study of this SGDS, the results obtained from simulation showed that the optimum values of area of the product to be dried, the exhaust airflow rate and the collector area were found to be 40 m², 250 kg/h and 2 m², respectively.     

Secondary defect profile related to low energy implanted boron measured up to 3.5 µm depth into Si-substrates

Low energy implantation is one of the most promising options for ultra shallow junction formation in the next generation of silicon BiCMOS technology. Among the dopants that have to be implanted, boron is the most problematic because of its low stopping power (large penetration depth) and its tendency to undergo transient enhanced diffusion and clustering during thermal activation. This paper reports an experimental study of secondary defect profiles of low energy B implants in crystalline silicon. Shallow p⁺n junctions were formed by low energy B implantation—10¹⁵ cm⁻² at 3 keV—into a reference n-type crystalline silicon or pre-amorphized n-Si with germanium −10¹⁵ cm⁻² at 30 keV, 60 keV, and 150 keV. Rapid Thermal Annealing (RTA) for 15 s at 950°C was then performed. Secondary defect profiles induced by this process are measured with isothermal transient capacitance in association with Deep Level Transient Spectroscopy (DLTS). Relatively high concentrations of electrically active defects have been obtained up to 3.5 μm into the crystalline silicon bulk. The relation of these defects with boron is discussed. The results of this study are in agreement with boron transient enhanced diffusion in Si-substrate as has been reported by Collart using Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS) measurements.