An efficient recommender system algorithm using trust data

The Journal of Supercomputing - Smart services are a concept that provides services to the citizens in an efficient manner. The online shopping and recommender system can play an important role for...     

On transmission zeros and zero directions of multivariable time-invariant linear systems with input-derivative control

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the problem of finding inputs which generate zero outputs in linear systems whose state equation contains the derivative of the input. The method developed makes use of the simplest matrix generalized inverse, the {1}-inverse.     

The Role of Autophagy in Chemical Proteasome Inhibition Model of Retinal Degeneration

We recently demonstrated that chemical proteasome inhibition induced inner retinal degeneration, supporting the pivotal roles of the ubiquitin–proteasome system in retinal structural integrity maintenance. In this study, using beclin1-heterozygous (Becn1-Het) mice with autophagic dysfunction, we tested our hypothesis that autophagy could be a compensatory retinal protective mechanism for proteasomal impairment. Despite the reduced number of autophagosome, the ocular tissue morphology and intraocular pressure were normal. Surprisingly, Becn1-Het mice experienced the same extent of retinal degeneration as was observed in wild-type mice, following an intravitreal injection of a chemical proteasome inhibitor. Similarly, these mice equally responded to other chemical insults, including endoplasmic reticulum stress inducer, N-methyl-D-aspartate, and lipopolysaccharide. Interestingly, in cultured neuroblastoma cells, we found that the mammalian target of rapamycin-independent autophagy activators, lithium chloride and rilmenidine, rescued these cells against proteasome inhibition-induced death. These results suggest that Becn1-mediated autophagy is not an effective intrinsic protective mechanism for retinal damage induced by insults, including impaired proteasomal activity; furthermore, autophagic activation beyond normal levels is required to alleviate the cytotoxic effect of proteasomal inhibition. Further studies are underway to delineate the precise roles of different forms of autophagy, and investigate the effects of their activation in rescuing retinal neurons under various pathological conditions.     

Transforming rice cultivation in flood prone coastal Odisha to ensure food and economic security

Flash floods leading to complete submergence of rice plants for 10–15 days is one of the major constraints for rice production, mainly in rainfed lowland areas. In India, 30% of the rice growing area (12–14 M ha) is prone to flash flooding with average productivity of only 0.5–0.8 t ha^?1. Coastal Odisha is one of the most flood prone areas of India where the paddy crop in the wet season is often devastated by flash floods, forcing farmers either to discontinue paddy cultivation or to revert to traditional varieties with very low yields. The flood tolerant variety, Swarna-Sub1 (SS1), was introduced through cluster demonstrations in some villages of the Bari block of Odisha in 2013. SS1 seeds were provided to 355 farmers in two villages affected by floods twice in 2013. The majority of the farmers cultivated SS1 in 2013 and about 75% of them persisted with the variety in 2014. There has been a steady and significant increase in paddy cultivation and yields per unit area between 2012 and 2014 and a sharp increase in paddy sales during 2013 and 2014. The present study showed that farmers preferred to cultivate low yielding traditional land races owing to their better flood tolerance and the unavailability of flood tolerant high yielding varieties (HYVs). Traditional varieties gave 30–42% higher yields than non-SS1 HYVs when flooding occurred. SS1 on the other hand offered a significant yield advantage of about twice that of traditional varieties, in both flooding and non-flooding years. There is an additional social advantage of SSI in that famers belonging to scheduled castes in flood prone villages, have greater numbers of plots that are exposed to prolonged floods. Thus they benefit proportionately more from the introduction of SS1.     

Effects of lead (Pb)-induced oxidative stress on morphological and physio-biochemical properties of rice

In rice, high concentration of lead (Pb) can cause phyto-toxicity affecting several physiological functions. Cultivation of rice varieties that are resistant to Pb-induced oxidative stress is an important management strategy in Pb-contaminated soils. In the current study, we evaluated four different rice cultivars for their response to Pb-induced stress. Three japonica type cultivars X-Jigna, Ediget, and Furat, and one Indica type cultivar Amber 33 were grown in soil containing different Pb concentrations (0 mM, 0.6 mM, and 1.2 mM). The soil was treated with 0 mM or 0.6 mM or 1.2 mM Pb solution one month prior to rice seedling transplantation. Thereafter, four-week-old rice seedlings were transplanted into the treated soil and their responses were observed until maturity. The data revealed that a highest concentration of Pb (1.2 mM) induced significant reduction in agronomic traits such as plant height, number of tillers per plant, number of panicles per plant, and number of spikelets per panicle in all the rice cultivars. However, least reduction in the agronomic traits was observed in X-Jigna, whereas the highest reduction in the agronomic traits was observed in Ediget. Antioxidant activity of catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POD), polyphenol oxidase (PPO), and superoxide dismutase (SOD), was evaluated along with the accumulation of superoxide ions (O₂^.-), protein, proline, chlorophyll, sucrose, glucose, and fructose contents in all the rice cultivars. A significant increase in antioxidant activity and in the accumulation of proline and sucrose contents with the least reduction in the chlorophyll and protein contents was observed in X-Jigna suggesting that X-Jigna is the most tolerant among all the rice cultivars tested against Pb-stress. On the other hand, non-significant and slightly significant increase in the antioxidant activity, less accumulation of proline and sucrose contents, and higher reduction in the chlorophyll and protein contents was observed in Ediget, which further suggest that Ediget is the most susceptible rice cultivar to Pb-stress. In addition, the other rice cultivars Furat and Amber 33, were found to be moderately tolerant to Pb-induced oxidative stress. In summary, our results suggest that tolerance to Pb-induced oxidative stress would be a result of a synergetic action of both enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidant systems, leading to a balanced redox status in rice.

     

Summarizing Software Artifacts: A Literature Review

This paper presents a literature review in the field of summarizing software artifacts, focusing on bug reports, source code, mailing lists and developer discussions artifacts. From Jan. 2010 to Apr. 2016, numerous summarization techniques, approaches, and tools have been proposed to satisfy the ongoing demand of improving software performance and quality and facilitating developers in understanding the problems at hand. Since aforementioned artifacts contain both structured and unstructured data at the same time, researchers have applied different machine learning and data mining techniques to generate summaries. Therefore, this paper first intends to provide a general perspective on the state of the art, describing the type of artifacts, approaches for summarization, as well as the common portions of experimental procedures shared among these artifacts. Moreover, we discuss the applications of summarization, i.e., what tasks at hand have been achieved through summarization. Next, this paper presents tools that are generated for summarization tasks or employed during summarization tasks. In addition, we present different summarization evaluation methods employed in selected studies as well as other important factors that are used for the evaluation of generated summaries such as adequacy and quality. Moreover, we briefly present modern communication channels and complementarities with commonalities among different software artifacts. Finally, some thoughts about the challenges applicable to the existing studies in general as well as future research directions are also discussed. The survey of existing studies will allow future researchers to have a wide and useful background knowledge on the main and important aspects of this research field.     

A Multiscale Approach to Leak Detection and Localization in Water Pipeline Network

Leak detection and localization in water pipeline networks is of paramount importance to industry, especially in regions where water is scarce. In this paper, we present a novel multi-modal and multi-scale approach for leak detection and localization in water pipeline networks, in which pressure measurements at various points on the network are used to localize the pipe segment in which the leak is occurring, and then the vibration sensors are used to localize the leak within this segment. In some situations where the complete pipeline model is not available, pressure data alone may not be effective in localizing the leak. However, in such a situation, by supplementing pressure data with vibration data, the leak can be localized, as these additional data are easier to acquire at arbitrary points, since vibration sensors are non-invasive. In order to validate the effectiveness of the approach that needs both pressure and vibration data, we simulate the pipeline model using EPANET that includes models for flow and pressure at various points on the pipeline, then integrate the vibration model with it in MATLAB, since EPNAET does not include models for vibration measurements. A case study of a pipeline network is considered, and the proposed scheme is used to detect and localize the leak. Extensive simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed scheme in providing accurate leak detection and localization.     

Verification of knowledge shared across design and manufacture using a foundation ontology

Seamless computer-based knowledge sharing between departments of a manufacturing enterprise is useful in preventing unnecessary design revisions. A lack of interoperability between independently developed knowledge bases, however, is a major impediment in the development of a seamless knowledge-sharing system. Interoperability, being an ability to overcome semantic and syntactic differences during computer-based knowledge sharing, can be enhanced through the use of foundation ontologies. Foundation or core ontologies can be used to overcome differences existing in more specialised ontologies and to ensure seamless knowledge sharing. This is because these ontologies provide a common grounding for domain ontologies to be used by different functions or departments. This common base can be used by mediation and knowledge verification systems to authenticate the meaning of knowledge understood across different domains. For this reason, this research proposes a knowledge verification framework for developing a system capable of verifying knowledge between those domain ontologies which are developed out of a common core or foundation ontology. This framework makes use of ontology logic to standardise the way concepts from a foundation and core concepts ontology are used in domain ontologies and then, by using the same principles, the knowledge being shared is verified.     

Partially oxidized cobalt species in nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes: Enhanced catalytic performance to water-splitting

It's still an ongoing research challenge to explore non-precious metal-based catalysts for substituting precious metal catalysts during full water electrocatalysis. Herein, we reported the partially oxidized cobalt species in nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes hierarchical structures to produce dual-functionality towards oxygen/hydrogen evolution reactions. The in situ transformation of carbon nanotubes and well-exposed metal-oxide contributes to mass diffusion and greater electrolyte-accessible surface area. The as-synthesized catalyst displays low overpotentials of 287 mV and 171 mV for oxygen and hydrogen evolution reactions at 10 mA cm^?2 of current density with remarkable performance during long-term stability. Furthermore, when employed as cathode and anode, a respectable performance of 1.68 V demonstrated our catalyst as an efficient bifunctional material for conducting water-splitting operation.