Characteristics of biochemical markers and quality parameters using whole wheat flours in Korean wheat cultivars and lines

Tese de doutoramento em Ciências e Tecnologias da Informação, apresentada ao Departamento de Engenharia Informática da Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade de CoimbraO espectro rádio tem vindo a ser regulado de um modo estático. Ou seja, este encontra-se essencialmente dividido em bandas de frequência licenciadas, com utilização restringida a um número limitado de utilizadores autorizados, e em algumas bandas de frequência não licenciadas para utilização livre. Devido à falta de flexibilidade resultante desta abordagem, partes significativas do espectro rádio encontram-se subutilizadas. Em simultâneo, outras bandas de frequência estão a ficar cada vez mais saturadas, nomeadamente as não licenciadas em áreas densamente povoadas. O Rádio Cognitivo é um paradigma recente cujo objetivo é melhorar o nível de eficiência na utilização do espectro rádio. Os seus princípios gerais consistem em permitir que dispositivos sem fios não licenciados (os denominados Utilizadores Secundários) possam aceder às bandas de frequência licenciadas desde que estes não interferiram de forma prejudicial com os utilizadores licenciados (os denominados Utilizadores Primários). A abordagem preponderante na área de Rádio Cognitivo consiste em ter utilizadores secundários com capacidade para, de um modo dinâmico, detetar e aceder a oportunidades espectrais, ou seja, bandas de frequência que não estão a ser acedidas pelos respetivos utilizadores primários num determinado momento numa determinada localização. Neste contexto, os utilizadores secundários devem ser capazes de analisar o espectro rádio com precisão e, de preferência, possuírem mecanismos de aprendizagem baseados em observação local e experiência passada. Apesar da área de Rádio Cognitivo ter implicações na totalidade das camadas das pilhas protocolares de comunicação, os seus problemas fundamentais localizam-se nos níveis físico (PHY) e de controlo de acesso ao meio (MAC). Em particular, os protocolos de controlo de acesso ao meio desempenham um papel fundamental no âmbito de operações de controlo de acesso ao espectro rádio e de suporte à cooperação entre utilizadores secundários. Os utilizadores primários, quanto a eles, devem manter-se abstraídos das operações de Rádio Cognitivo e, em consequência, não estarem sujeitos a qualquer tipo de alteração em cenários de Rádio Cognitivo. Esta tese apresenta cinco contribuições, essencialmente relacionadas com o nível do controlo de acesso ao meio, com o objetivo de incrementar os níveis de proteção dos utilizadores primários e de desempenho dos utilizadores secundários em redes de Rádio Cognitivo distribuídas, especialmente quando os utilizadores secundários não têm antecipadamente acesso a qualquer tipo de informação, tal como a localização de utilizadores primários. Neste tipo de cenário, não existe qualquer entidade central responsável por recolher e processar dados de origem diversa ou tomar decisões de acesso ao espectro rádio. Ou seja, as soluções propostas adequam-se a utilizadores secundários que operam de um modo autónomo e cooperativo. Estes tomam as suas decisões baseando-se, essencialmente, em observações locais, em eventuais resultados de aprendizagem e em dados trocados entre si. A primeira contribuição desta tese consiste numa descrição da área de Rádio Cognitivo através de um estado da arte detalhado. A segunda contribuição resulta na definição de um protocolo de controlo de acesso ao meio apoiado num mecanismo inovador, designado COSBET (Cooperative Sense-Before-Transmit), que oferece um nível superior de proteção dos utilizadores primários em cenários de Rádio Cognitivo distribuídos sujeitos ao problema do utilizador primário oculto. Este tipo de anomalia ocorre quando um utilizador secundário é incapaz de detetar as atividades de um determinado utilizador primário apesar de poder provocar interferências na respetiva área de abrangência. Tal como já foi referido, na área de Rádio Cognitivo, é considerado desejável os utilizadores secundários terem capacidades de aprendizagem baseadas em observação local e experiência passada. No entanto, em cenários distribuídos, o problema do utilizador primário oculto afeta negativamente a qualidade dos resultados de aprendizagem obtidos e, em consequência, o nível efetivamente alcançado em termos de proteção dos utilizadores primários. Sendo assim, esta tese também analisa esta questão e propõe uma solução destinada a tratá-la, estando esta terceira contribuição baseada num conceito chave designado FIBASC (Filtering Based on Suspicious Channels). A troca de informação de controlo em redes de Rádio Cognitivo distribuídas é frequentemente suportada por um canal partilhado e acessível à globalidade dos utilizadores secundários. Este é o designado canal de controlo comum (CCC), sendo igualmente esta a abordagem seguida pelo protocolo COSBET-MAC proposto. No entanto, os CCC estão sujeitos a problemas de saturação. A ocorrência deste tipo de problema impede os utilizadores secundários de tirarem pleno proveito das potencialidades oferecidas pelo Rádio Cognitivo, acabando por limitar os níveis de desempenho de comunicação alcançáveis. Sendo assim, nesta tese também analisamos esta questão e propomos uma solução destinada a abordá-la, correspondendo esta à nossa quarta contribuição. A solução proposta, designada CORHYS (Cognitive Radio Hybrid Signalling), baseia-se num esquema de sinalização híbrido que recorre simultaneamente a um CCC e aos canais de dados que vão sendo alocados de forma dinâmica. A quinta e última contribuição desta tese consiste na definição de uma estratégia adicional, igualmente localizada no nível do controlo de acesso ao meio, destinada a melhorar o desempenho dos utilizadores secundários em cenários de Rádio Cognitivo distribuídos em que se recorre a um CCC. Fazem parte das suas linhas orientadoras a otimização da reutilização espacial do espectro rádio e a redução do tráfego de controlo gerado entre utilizadores secundários. As soluções de Rádio Cognitivo propostas no âmbito desta tese foram avaliadas em ambiente de simulação, sendo esta uma prática comum, nomeadamente devido a limitações de tempo e de outros tipos de recursos. Para o efeito, recorreu-se ao OMNET++ (Objective Modular Network Testbed in C++), um simulador baseado em eventos discretos e de código aberto. A totalidade das contribuições da presente tese podem ser aplicadas em conjunto. A integração destas deu origem a uma solução única e otimizada de controlo de acesso ao meio destinada a cenários de Rádio Cognitivo distribuídos. Esta aborda as duas principais preocupações existentes em cenários de Rádio Cognitivo: proteger os utilizadores primários de qualquer tipo de interferência prejudicial; e melhorar o desempenho de comunicação dos utilizadores secundários. Tanto quanto sabemos, as várias soluções propostas e o nível de completude que a utilização conjunta destas permite não são oferecidos por qualquer outra proposta de controlo de acesso ao meio existente para cenários de Rádio Cognitivo distribuídos. As contribuições desta tese também apontam direções que podem ser seguidas no âmbito de outros protocolos de controlo de acesso ao meio, especialmente aqueles que se destinam a redes de Rádio Cognitivo distribuídas.The radio spectrum has been statically regulated, i.e., essentially partitioned into licensed frequency bands, which are accessed exclusively by authorized users, and unlicensed frequency bands that can be freely accessed. Due to this inflexible policy, large portions of the entire radio spectrum remain unused independently of time and location in the world, while some frequency bands suffer from increasing levels of saturation, particularly the unlicensed ones in densely populated areas. Cognitive Radio (CR) is a recent paradigm that aims at improving efficiency regarding spectrum utilization. Its principles consist in allowing unlicensed wireless devices (i.e., secondary users) to access licensed frequency bands provided that the respective incumbent users (i.e., primary users) do not suffer any harmful interference. The most preponderant CR approach consists in having a secondary user (SU) dynamically locating and accessing spectrum opportunities, i.e., frequency bands that are not being accessed by any primary user (PU) at a given time and location. Consequently, sensing the spectrum and learning through local observation and past experience, which enables proactive spectrum decision, are key CR issues. Despite CR has implications in all the layers of the communication protocol stack, its fundamentals are mainly related to the physical (PHY) and medium access control (MAC) levels. In fact, CR MAC protocols are at the heart of spectrum access control and cooperation between SUs. PUs are expected to be unware of CR operations and, consequently, should not suffer any modification under CR scenarios. This thesis provides five contributions, essentially related to the MAC level, with the aim of improving the protection of PUs and the communication performance of SUs in cooperative distributed CR networks, particularly when there is no access to any a priori known information, such as the locations of primary transmitters. In this type of scenario, there are no central entities that collect and fuse data, or take spectrum decisions. That is, the proposed solutions fit into totally autonomous and cooperating SUs, i.e., SUs that take their own decisions based on local observation, on learning outcomes if any is available, and on data they exchange with each other. The first contribution of this thesis consists in a description of the CR area through an indepth state of the art. The second contribution lies in the definition of a CR MAC protocol that follows a novel approach, named Cooperative Sense-Before-Transmit (COSBET), which provides a higher protection of PUs in distributed CR scenarios that suffer from the hidden PU problem. This issue occurs when a SU cannot sense the activities of a given PU despite it can cause harmful interference to its coverage area. As already mentioned, CR considers that the SUs might have learning capabilities based on local observation and past experience. However, in distributed scenarios, the hidden PU problem affects the accuracy of learning and, therefore, the effectiveness of PU protection. For that reason, in this thesis we also discuss this issue and propose a novel solution that addresses it. This solution is based on a key concept named FIBASC (Filtering Based on Suspicious Channels). Utilizing a common control channel (CCC), i.e., a channel that is available to all the SUs in a CR network, for signalling purposes is a frequent practice concerning existing distributed CR MAC solutions. It is also the solution adopted by COSBET-MAC. However, a CCC is susceptible to saturation and can, therefore, become a performance bottleneck that inhibits the SUs from taking full advantage of CR potentialities. Consequently, the fourth contribution of this thesis consists in analysing this issue and addressing it through a novel solution, which we named CORHYS (Cognitive Radio Hybrid Signalling). CORHYS is based on a hybrid signalling approach that performs signalling over the CCC and over the allocated data channels simultaneously. The fifth and last contribution of this thesis consists in a MAC-level strategy that aims at further improving the performance of SUs in distributed CR scenarios that are based on a CCC. The key guidelines for this strategy are optimizing the spatial reuse of the radio spectrum and reducing control traffic. The CR solutions that resulted from this thesis were evaluated through simulation, which is a common practice, particularly due to time and other resource restrictions. For this purpose, we used OMNET++ (Objective Modular Network Testbed in C++), an open source discrete event simulator. The contributions of this thesis can be applied jointly and were successfully integrated with each other, which resulted in an optimized CR MAC solution that addresses the two main concerns in distributed CR scenarios: protecting the PUs from harmful interference; and improving the communication performance of the SUs. To the best of our knowledge, the proposed solutions and the level of completeness that they jointly achieve are not found in any other existing distributed CR MAC proposal. We also note that they define directions that can be followed by other CR MAC protocols, particularly those that target distributed CR networks

Influence of hyperhomocysteinemia on the cellular redox state - Impact on homocysteine-induced endothelial dysfunction

Hyperhomocysteinemia is an independent risk factor for the development of atherosclerosis. An increasing body of evidence has implicated oxidative stress as being contributory to homocysteines deleterious effects on the vasculature. Elevated levels of homocysteine may lead to increased generation of superoxide by a biochemical mechanism involving nitric oxide synthase, and, to a lesser extent, by an increase in the chemical oxidation of homocysteine and other aminothiols in the circulation. The resultant increase in superoxide levels is further amplified by homocysteinedependent alterations in the function of cellular antioxidant enzymes such as cellular glutathione peroxidase or extracellular superoxide dismutase. One direct clinical consequence of elevated vascular superoxide levels is the inactivation of the vasorelaxant messenger nitric oxide, leading to endothelial dysfunction. Scavenging of superoxide anion by either superoxide dismutase or 4,5-dihydroxybenzene 1,3-disulfonate (Tiron) reverses endothelial dysfunction in hyperhomocysteinemic animal models and in isolated aortic rings incubated with homocysteine. Similarly, homocysteineinduced endothelial dysfunction is also reversed by increasing the concentration of the endogenous antioxidant glutathione or overexpressing cellular glutathione peroxidase in animal models of mild hyperhomocysteinemia. Taken together, these findings strongly suggest that the adverse vascular effects of homocysteine are at least partly mediated by oxidative inactivation of nitric oxide

The effect of minor allele frequency on the likelihood of obtaining false positives

Determining the most promising single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) presents a challenge in genome-wide association studies, when hundreds of thousands of association tests are conducted. The power to detect genetic effects is dependent on minor allele frequency (MAF), and genome-wide association studies SNP arrays include SNPs with a wide distribution of MAFs. Therefore, it is critical to understand MAF's effect on the false positive rate

Factors associated with in-hospital mortality following intracerebral hemorrhage: a three-year study in Tehran, Iran

BACKGROUND: Primary intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is one of the common vascular insults with a relatively high rate of mortality. The aim of the current study was to determine the mortality rate and to evaluate the influence of various factors on the mortality of patients with intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). Demographic characteristics along with clinical features and neuroimaging information on 122 patients with primary ICH admitted to Sina Hospital between 1999–2002 were assessed by multivariate analysis. RESULTS: Of 122 patients diagnosed with intracerebral hemorrhage, 70 were men and 52 were women. Sixtynine percent of subjects were between 60 to 80 years of age. A history of hypertension was the primary cause in 67.2% of participants and it was found more frequent compared to other cardiovascular risk factors such as a history of ischemic heart disease (17.2%), diabetes mellitus (18%) and cigarette smoking (13.1%). The overall mortality rate among ICH patients admitted to the hospital was 46.7%. About one third of the deaths occurred within the first two days after brain injury. Factor independently associated with in-hospital mortality were Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score (≤ 8), diabetes mellitus disease, volume of hematoma and and intraventricular hematoma. CONCLUSION: Higher rate of mortality were observed during the first two weeks of hospitalization following ICH. Neuroimaging features along with GCS score can help the clinicians in developing their prognosis

Gene expression and matrix turnover in overused and damaged tendons

Chronic, painful conditions affecting tendons, frequently known as tendinopathy, are very common types of sporting injury. The tendon extracellular matrix is substantially altered in tendinopathy, and these changes are thought to precede and underlie the clinical condition. The tendon cell response to repeated minor injuries or “overuse” is thought to be a major factor in the development of tendinopathy. Changes in matrix turnover may also be effected by the cellular response to physical load, altering the balance of matrix turnover and changing the structure and composition of the tendon. Matrix turnover is relatively high in tendons exposed to high mechanical demands, such as the supraspinatus and Achilles, and this is thought to represent either a repair or tissue maintenance function. Metalloproteinases are a large family of enzymes capable of degrading all of the tendon matrix components, and these are thought to play a major role in the degradation of matrix during development, adaptation and repair. It is proposed that some metalloproteinase enzymes are required for the health of the tendon, and others may be damaging, leading to degeneration of the tissue. Further research is required to investigate how these enzyme activities are regulated in tendon and altered in tendinopathy. A profile of all the metalloproteinases expressed and active in healthy and degenerate tendon is required and may lead to the development of new drug therapies for these common and debilitating sports injuries

Evolution of Near-Sun Solar Wind Turbulence

This paper presents a preliminary analysis of the turbulence spectrum of the solar wind in the near-Sun region R < 50 Rs, obtained from interplanetary scintillation measurements with the Ooty Radio Telescope at 327 MHz. The results clearly show that the scintillation is dominated by density irregularities of size about 100 - 500 km. The scintillation at the small-scale side of the spectrum, although significantly less in magnitude, has a flatter spectrum than the larger-scale dominant part. Furthermore, the spectral power contained in the flatter portion rapidly increases closer to the Sun. These results on the turbulence spectrum for R < 50 Rs quantify the evidence for radial evolution of the small-scale fluctuations (</= 50 km) generated by Alfven waves.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, To appear in "Magnetic Coupling between the Interior and the Atmosphere of the Sun", eds. S.S. Hasan and R.J. Rutten, Astrophysics and Space Science Proceedings, Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg, Berlin, 200

Modeling of failure mode in knee ligaments depending on the strain rate

BACKGROUND: The failure mechanism of the knee ligament (bone-ligament-bone complex) at different strain rates is an important subject in the biomechanics of the knee. This study reviews and summarizes the literature describing ligament injury as a function of stain rate, which has been published during the last 30 years. METHODS: Three modes of injury are presented as a function of strain rate, and they are used to analyze the published cases. The number of avulsions is larger than that of ligament tearing in mode I. There is no significant difference between the number of avulsions and ligament tearing in mode II. Ligament tearing happens more frequently than avulsion in mode III. RESULTS: When the strain rate increases, the order of mode is mode I, II, III, I, and II. Analytical models of ligament behavior as a function of strain rate are also presented and used to provide an integrated framework for describing all of the failure regimes. In addition, this study showed the failure mechanisms with different specimens, ages, and strain rates. CONCLUSION: There have been several a numbers of studies of ligament failure under various conditions including widely varying strain rates. One issue in these studies is whether ligament failure occurs mid-ligament or at the bone attachment point, with assertions that this is a function of the strain rate. However, over the range of strain rates and other conditions reported, there has appeared to be discrepancies in the conclusions on the effect of strain rate. The analysis and model presented here provides a unifying assessment of the previous disparities, emphasizing the differential effect of strain rate on the relative strengths of the ligament and the attachment

Anti-müllerian hormone is not associated with cardiometabolic risk factors in adolescent females

&lt;p&gt;Objectives: Epidemiological evidence for associations of Anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) with cardiometabolic risk factors is lacking. Existing evidence comes from small studies in select adult populations, and findings are conflicting. We aimed to assess whether AMH is associated with cardiometabolic risk factors in a general population of adolescent females.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Methods: AMH, fasting insulin, glucose, HDLc, LDLc, triglycerides and C-reactive protein (CRP) were measured at a mean age 15.5 years in 1,308 female participants in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). Multivariable linear regression was used to examine associations of AMH with these cardiometabolic outcomes.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Results: AMH values ranged from 0.16–35.84 ng/ml and median AMH was 3.57 ng/ml (IQR: 2.41, 5.49). For females classified as post-pubertal (n = 848) at the time of assessment median (IQR) AMH was 3.81 ng/ml (2.55, 5.82) compared with 3.25 ng/ml (2.23, 5.05) in those classed as early pubertal (n = 460, P≤0.001). After adjusting for birth weight, gestational age, pubertal stage, age, ethnicity, socioeconomic position, adiposity and use of hormonal contraceptives, there were no associations with any of the cardiometabolic outcomes. For example fasting insulin changed by 0% per doubling of AMH (95%CI: −3%,+2%) p = 0.70, with identical results if HOMA-IR was used. Results were similar after additional adjustment for smoking, physical activity and age at menarche, after exclusion of 3% of females with the highest AMH values, after excluding those that had not started menarche and after excluding those using hormonal contraceptives.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Conclusion: Our results suggest that in healthy adolescent females, AMH is not associated with cardiometabolic risk factors.&lt;/p&gt

Accuracy of five algorithms to diagnose gambiense human African trypanosomiasis.

Algorithms to diagnose gambiense human African trypanosomiasis (HAT, sleeping sickness) are often complex due to the unsatisfactory sensitivity and/or specificity of available tests, and typically include a screening (serological), confirmation (parasitological) and staging component. There is insufficient evidence on the relative accuracy of these algorithms. This paper presents estimates of the accuracy of five algorithms used by past Médecins Sans Frontières programmes in the Republic of Congo, Southern Sudan and Uganda