Enhanced Trustworthy and High-Quality Information Retrieval System for Web Search Engines

The WWW is the most important source of information. But, there is no guarantee for information correctness and lots of conflicting information is retrieved by the search engines and the quality of provided information also varies from low quality to high quality. We provide enhanced trustworthiness in both specific (entity) and broad (content) queries in web searching. The filtering of trustworthiness is based on 5 factors – Provenance, Authority, Age, Popularity, and Related Links. The trustworthiness is calculated based on these 5 factors and it is stored thereby increasing the performance in retrieving trustworthy websites. The calculated trustworthiness is stored only for static websites. Quality is provided based on policies selected by the user. Quality based ranking of retrieved trusted information is provided using WIQA (Web Information Quality Assessment) Framework

Chlorophyll is not accurate measurement for algal biomass

Microalgae are key primary producers and their biomass is widely applied for theproduction of pharmaceutics, bioactive compounds and energy. Conventionally, the contentof algal chlorophyll is considered an index for algal biomass. However, this study, we estimatedalgal biomass by direct measurement of total suspended solids (TSS) and correlated it withchlorophyll content. The results showed mean chlorophyll-a equal to 1.05 mg/L; chlorophyllb0.51 mg/L and chlorophyll-a+b 1.56 mg/L. Algal biomass as 161 mg/L was measured bydry weight (TSS). In statistical t-tests, F-tests and all the tested growth models, such as linear,quadratic, cubic, power, compound, inverse, logarithmic, exponential, s-curve and logisticmodels, we did not find any discernible relationship between all chlorophyll indices and TSSbiomass. Hence, the conventional method of chlorophyll measurement might not be a goodindex for biomass estimation

One-dimensional fluids with second nearest-neighbor interactions

As is well known, one-dimensional systems with interactions restricted to first nearest neighbors admit a full analytically exact statistical-mechanical solution. This is essentially due to the fact that the knowledge of the first nearest-neighbor probability distribution function, $p_1(r)$, is enough to determine the structural and thermodynamic properties of the system. On the other hand, if the interaction between second nearest-neighbor particles is turned on, the analytically exact solution is lost. Not only the knowledge of $p_1(r)$ is not sufficient anymore, but even its determination becomes a complex many-body problem. In this work we systematically explore different approximate solutions for one-dimensional second nearest-neighbor fluid models. We apply those approximations to the square-well and the attractive two-step pair potentials and compare them with Monte Carlo simulations, finding an excellent agreement.Comment: 26 pages, 12 figures; v2: more references adde

Amalgamation based optical and colorimetric sensing of mercury (II) ions with silver@graphene oxide nanocomposite materials

The article describes a facile method for the preparation of a conjugate composed of silver nanoparticles and graphene oxide (Ag@GO) via chemical reduction of silver precursors in the presence of graphene oxide (GO) while sonicating the solution. The Ag@GO was characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The nanocomposite undergoes a color change from yellow to colorless in presence of Hg(II), and this effect is based on the disappearance of the localized surface plasmon resonance absorption of the AgNPs due to the formation of silver-mercury amalgam. The presence of GO, on the other hand, prevents the agglomeration of the AgNPs and enhances the stability of the nanocomposite material in solution. Hence, the probe represents a viable optical probe for the determination of mercury(II) ions in that it can be used to visually detect Hg(II) concentrations as low as 100 μM. The instrumental LOD is 338 nM

Hormonal Regulation of Cutaneous Melanoma: A Brief Review of In Vivo and In Vitro Studies and Its Clinical Implication

Skin is an endocrine organ. Skin produces various hypothalamic, pituitary, adrenal and sex steroid hormones. This raises the question whether skin cancer melanoma is a hormone dependent cancer. But, a review of in-vivo and in-vitro studies suggested that melanoma could be a hormone responsive cancer or hormone sensitive cancer. In fact, previous clinical study showed that menstruating females were better protected in melanoma than post-menopausal women and men of any age. However, the study did not show any direct effect of steroid hormone on melanoma cells. Our in-vitro study showed that progesterone, a female sex hormone significantly inhibited human melanoma (BLM) cell growth. Progesterone inhibitory effect on other melanoma cell lines was also reported by Fang et al., Moroni et al. and Kanda and Watanbe. So, it was hypothesized that progesterone could be protecting menstruating females in melanoma. Our further research showed that progesterone action was mediated by a specific suppression of pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-8. Several in-vivo and in-vitro studies showed the importance of IL-8 in the regulation of melanoma growth. Hence, IL-8 could be considered as a potential target for melanoma treatment

Is Melanoma a Hormone-Dependent Cancer or a Hormone-Responsive Cancer?

Melanoma, a potentially fatal form of skin cancer is on the rise. This review not only underlines the close connection between skin and endocrine system, but also lists evidences from multiple sources epidemiological, clinical, previous in vivo and in vitro studies regarding the involvement of sex steroids in melanoma. Incidentally, clinical studies underscored the involvement of sex steroids in the protective function in melanoma in menstruating females. But, none of these studies identified the sex steroids involved in the protective function in melanoma in menstruating females. The sex steroid involved in this innate protection in melanoma in menstruating females has not been investigated by scientists, though advances have been made in immunotherapy with accompanying side effects. In this context, our in vitro studies on mouse and human melanoma cell lines, along with literature survey, pointed to progesterone as the possible female sex steroid involved in the protective function in melanoma. Based on our findings and previous studies, it is concluded in this review that melanoma is not a hormone-dependent cancer. But, it may be a hormone-sensitive or responsive cancer, as hormones (sex steroids) inhibited melanoma cell proliferation in vitro. This new understanding will help in developing new therapy or target for melanoma treatment

Production planning in different stages of a manufacturing supply chain under multiple uncertainties

This thesis focuses on designing stochastic programming models for production planning at different stages in a manufacturing supply chain under multiple sources of uncertainties. Various decision makers along the manufacturing supply chain often have to make planning decisions with embedded risks and uncertainties. In an effort to reduce risks and to ensure that the customer demand is met in the most efficient and cost effective way, the production plans at each stage need to be strategically planned. To assist production planning decisions, a two-stage stochastic programming model is developed with the objective of minimizing the total cost including production, inventory, and backorder costs. The proposed framework is validated with case studies in an automobile part manufacturer with real data based on literature. The results demonstrate the robustness of the stochastic model compared with various deterministic models. Sensitivity analysis is performed for the production capacity parameter to derive managerial insights regarding lot-sizing and scheduling decisions under different scenarios

Exploring structural variation and gene family architecture with De Novo assemblies of 15 Medicago genomes

Abstract Background Previous studies exploring sequence variation in the model legume, Medicago truncatula, relied on mapping short reads to a single reference. However, read-mapping approaches are inadequate to examine large, diverse gene families or to probe variation in repeat-rich or highly divergent genome regions. De novo sequencing and assembly of M. truncatula genomes enables near-comprehensive discovery of structural variants (SVs), analysis of rapidly evolving gene families, and ultimately, construction of a pan-genome. Results Genome-wide synteny based on 15 de novo M. truncatula assemblies effectively detected different types of SVs indicating that as much as 22% of the genome is involved in large structural changes, altogether affecting 28% of gene models. A total of 63 million base pairs (Mbp) of novel sequence was discovered, expanding the reference genome space for Medicago by 16%. Pan-genome analysis revealed that 42% (180 Mbp) of genomic sequences is missing in one or more accession, while examination of de novo annotated genes identified 67% (50,700) of all ortholog groups as dispensable – estimates comparable to recent studies in rice, maize and soybean. Rapidly evolving gene families typically associated with biotic interactions and stress response were found to be enriched in the accession-specific gene pool. The nucleotide-binding site leucine-rich repeat (NBS-LRR) family, in particular, harbors the highest level of nucleotide diversity, large effect single nucleotide change, protein diversity, and presence/absence variation. However, the leucine-rich repeat (LRR) and heat shock gene families are disproportionately affected by large effect single nucleotide changes and even higher levels of copy number variation. Conclusions Analysis of multiple M. truncatula genomes illustrates the value of de novo assemblies to discover and describe structural variation, something that is often under-estimated when using read-mapping approaches. Comparisons among the de novo assemblies also indicate that different large gene families differ in the architecture of their structural variation