Rates of A-statistical convergence of positive linear operators

AbstractIn this paper we study the rates of A-statistical convergence of sequences of positive linear operators mapping the weighted space Cρ1 into the weighted space Bρ2

Design of LDPC Codes for Two-Way Relay Systems with Physical-Layer Network Coding

Cataloged from PDF version of article.This letter presents low-density parity-check (LDPC) code design for two-way relay (TWR) systems employing physical-layer network coding (PLNC). We focus on relay decoding, and propose an empirical density evolution method for estimating the decoding threshold of the LDPC code ensemble. We utilize the proposed method in conjunction with a random walk optimization procedure to obtain good LDPC code degree distributions. Numerical results demonstrate that the specifically designed LDPC codes can attain improvements of about 0.3 dB over off-the-shelf LDPC codes (designed for point-to-point additive white Gaussian noise channels), i.e., it is new code designs are essential to optimize the performance of TWR systems

A rare cause of blepharoconjunctivitis: Phthiriasis palpebrarum

Letter to Edito

Landslide susceptibility mapping of Cekmece area (Istanbul, Turkey) by conditional probability

International audienceAs a result of industrialization, throughout the world, the cities have been growing rapidly for the last century. One typical example of these growing cities is Istanbul. Today, the population of Istanbul is over 10 millions. Depending on this rapid urbanization, new suitable areas for settlements and engineering structures are necessary. For this reason, the Cekmece area, west of the Istanbul metropolitan area, is selected as the study area, because the landslides are frequent in this area. The purpose of the present study is to produce landslide susceptibility map of the selected area by conditional probability approach. For this purpose, a landslide database was constructed by both air ? photography and field studies. 19.2% of the selected study area is covered by landslides. Mainly, the landslides described in the area are generally located in the lithologies including the permeable sandstone layers and impermeable layers such as claystone, siltstone and mudstone layers. When considering this finding, it is possible to say that one of the main conditioning factors of the landslides in the study area is lithology. In addition to lithology, many landslide conditioning factors are considered during the landslide susceptibility analyses. As a result of the analyses, the class of 5?10° of slope, the class of 180?225 of aspect, the class of 25?50 of altitude, Danisment formation of the lithological units, the slope units of geomorphology, the class of 800?1000 m of distance from faults (DFF), the class of 75?100 m of distance from drainage (DFD) pattern, the class of 0?10m of distance from roads (DFR) and the class of low or impermeable unit of relative permeability map have the higher probability values than the other classes. When compared with the produced landslide susceptibility map, most of the landslides identified in the study area are found to be located in the most (54%) and moderate (40%) susceptible zones. This assessment is also supported by the performance analysis applied at end of the study. As a consequence, the landslide susceptibility map produced herein has a valuable tool for the planning purposes

Rancang Bangun Aplikasi Augmented Reality sebagai Media Promosi Model Tatanan Rambut pada Barbershop Berbasis Android

The development of barbershop makes business competition becomes increasingly tight. Currently, information and communication technology is very important in the field of barbershop marketing. But this technology only shows details of the existence of barbershop. In addition, the catalog of hairstyles that are provided only in the form of 2-dimensional images. Therefore, more advanced technology is needed to promote the model of hairstyle available in barbershop. One of the technology applied in smartphone applications is Augmented Reality on the Android operating system. In this research will be developed an Augmented Reality based promotion media to promote hair model model with 3 dimensional object visualization using marker based tracking method. Development of this application starts from the stage of concept creation, application design, 3-dimensional object creation, application assembly, application testing, until the application distribution stage. This application was created using C # programming language, Vuforia Qualcomm, virtual and Unity Autodeks Maya software. The application that has been produced is tested by 2 methods that is by black-box testing and by USAbility scale system test, on the test of black -box AugmentedReality application of functional barbershop that exist in the application has been successfully executed according to their respective function. Based on survey results on Usabilty ScaleSystem(SUS) test on Augmented Reality Barbershop application, 20 respondents gave average score of 73.35 with Grade Scale C

Intelligent Financial Fraud Detection Practices: An Investigation

Financial fraud is an issue with far reaching consequences in the finance industry, government, corporate sectors, and for ordinary consumers. Increasing dependence on new technologies such as cloud and mobile computing in recent years has compounded the problem. Traditional methods of detection involve extensive use of auditing, where a trained individual manually observes reports or transactions in an attempt to discover fraudulent behaviour. This method is not only time consuming, expensive and inaccurate, but in the age of big data it is also impractical. Not surprisingly, financial institutions have turned to automated processes using statistical and computational methods. This paper presents a comprehensive investigation on financial fraud detection practices using such data mining methods, with a particular focus on computational intelligence-based techniques. Classification of the practices based on key aspects such as detection algorithm used, fraud type investigated, and success rate have been covered. Issues and challenges associated with the current practices and potential future direction of research have also been identified.Comment: Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Security and Privacy in Communication Networks (SecureComm 2014

Determination of periodic deformation from InSAR results using the FFT time series analysis method in Gediz Graben

Permanent Scatterers (PS) point velocities obtained by the interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) method are generally determined using the linear regression model, which ignores periodic and seasonal effects. In this study, software was developed that can detect periodic effects by applying fast Fourier transformation (FFT) time series analysis to InSAR results. Using the FFT time series analysis, the periodic components of the surface movements at the PS points were determined, and then the annual velocity values free from periodic effects were obtained. The study area was chosen as the Gediz Graben, a tectonically active region where aseismic surface deformations have been observed in recent years. As a result, using the developed method, seasonal effects were successfully determined with the InSAR method at the PS points in the study area with a period of 384 days and an average amplitude of 19 mm. In addition, groundwater level changes of a water well in the region were modeled, and 0.93 correlation coefficient values were calculated between seasonal InSAR displacement values and water level changes. Thus, using the developed methodology, the relationship between the tectonic movement in the Gediz Graben in Turkey and the seasonal movements and the change in the groundwater level was determined

Requirement for commissureless2 function during dipteran insect nerve cord development

BACKGROUND: In Drosophila melanogaster, commissureless (comm) function is required for proper nerve cord development. Although comm orthologs have not been identified outside of Drosophila species, some insects possess orthologs of Drosophila comm2, which may also regulate embryonic nerve cord development. Here, this hypothesis is explored through characterization of comm2 genes in two disease vector mosquitoes. RESULTS: Culex quinquefasciatus (West Nile and lymphatic filiariasis vector) has three comm2 genes that are expressed in the developing nerve cord. Aedes aegypti (dengue and yellow fever vector) has a single comm2 gene that is expressed in commissural neurons projecting axons toward the midline. Loss of comm2 function in both A. aegypti and D. melanogaster was found to result in loss of commissure defects that phenocopy the frazzled (fra) loss of function phenotypes observed in both species. Loss of fra function in either insect was found to result in decreased comm2 transcript levels during nerve cord development. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this investigation suggest that Fra down-regulates repulsion in precrossing commissural axons by regulating comm2 levels in both A. aegypti and D. melanogaster, both of which require Comm2 function for proper nerve cord development

Effect of Deterpenated Origanum majorana L. Essential Oil on the Physicochemical and Biological Properties of Chitosan/β-Chitin Nanofibers Nanocomposite Films

Herein, the effect of three deterpenated fractions from Origanum majorana L. essential oil on the physicochemical, mechanical and biological properties of chitosan/β-chitin nanofibers-based nanocomposite films were investigated. In general, the incorporation of Origanum majorana L. original essential oil or its deterpenated fractions increases the opacity of the nanocomposite films and gives them a yellowish color. The water solubility decreases from 58% for chitosan/β-chitin nanofibers nanocomposite film to around 32% for the nanocomposite films modified with original essential oil or its deterpenated fractions. Regarding the thermal stability, no major changes were observed, and the mechanical properties decreased. Interestingly, data show differences on the biological properties of the materials depending on the incorporated deterpenated fraction of Origanum majorana L. essential oil. The nanocomposite films prepared with the deterpenated fractions with a high concentration of oxygenated terpene derivatives show the best antifungal activity against Aspergillus niger, with fungal growth inhibition of around 85.90%. Nonetheless, the only nanocomposite film that does not present cytotoxicity on the viability of L929 fibroblast cells after 48 and 72 h is the one prepared with the fraction presenting the higher terpenic hydrocarbon content (87.92%). These results suggest that the composition of the deterpenated fraction plays an important role in determining the biological properties of the nanocomposite films.This research was funded by the Basque Country Government (IT 1008-16)

Effect of modulating glutamate signaling on myelinating oligodendrocytes and their development-A study in the zebrafish model

Myelination is crucial for the development and maintenance of axonal integrity, especially fast axonal action potential conduction. There is increasing evidence that glutamate signaling and release through neuronal activity modulates the myelination process. In this study, we examine the effect of manipulating glutamate signaling on myelination of oligodendrocyte (OL) lineage cells and their development in zebrafish (zf). We use the “intensity-based glutamate-sensing fluorescent reporter” (iGluSnFR) in the zf model (both sexes) to address the hypothesis that glutamate is implicated in regulation of myelinating OLs. Our results show that glial iGluSnFR expression significantly reduces OL lineage cell number and the expression of myelin markers in larvae (zfl) and adult brains. The specific glutamate receptor agonist, L-AP4, rescues this iGluSnFR effect by significantly increasing the expression of the myelin-related genes, plp1b and mbpa, and enhances myelination in L-AP4-injected zfl compared to controls. Furthermore, we demonstrate that degrading glutamate using Glutamat-Pyruvate Transaminase (GPT) or the blockade of glutamate reuptake by L-trans-pyrrolidine-2,4-dicarboxylate (PDC) significantly decreases myelin-related genes and drastically declines myelination in brain ventricle-injected zfl. Moreover, we found that myelin-specific ClaudinK (CldnK) and 36K protein expression is significantly decreased in iGluSnFR-expressing zfl and adult brains compared to controls. Taken together, this study confirms that glutamate signaling is directly required for the preservation of myelinating OLs and for the myelination process itself. These findings further suggest that glutamate signaling may provide novel targets to therapeutically boost remyelination in several demyelinating diseases of the CNS