Evaluation of Mold and Termite Resistance of Included Sapwood in Eastern Redcedar

The heartwood of eastern redcedar (Juniperus virginiana) frequently contains areas of light-colored wood. This "included sapwood" is considered to be a defect by some manufacturers. In this study, sapwood, included sapwood, and heartwood samples from five eastern redcedar trees were exposed to mold fungi or subterranean termites in a no-choice feeding test. Specific gravity, extractives content, and total volumetric shrinkage were also measured. The extractive content, specific gravity, and volumetric shrinkage values of sapwood and included sapwood were equivalent. Greater extractive content in heartwood blocks was associated with less volumetric shrinkage and greater specific gravity. Included sapwood showed the same resistance to mold growth as heartwood, which was more mold-resistant that the sapwood. Included sapwood, heartwood, and sapwood of redcedar all exhibited resistance to termite attack compared with pine wood controls

The survey on Near Field Communication

PubMed ID: 26057043Near Field Communication (NFC) is an emerging short-range wireless communication technology that offers great and varied promise in services such as payment, ticketing, gaming, crowd sourcing, voting, navigation, and many others. NFC technology enables the integration of services from a wide range of applications into one single smartphone. NFC technology has emerged recently, and consequently not much academic data are available yet, although the number of academic research studies carried out in the past two years has already surpassed the total number of the prior works combined. This paper presents the concept of NFC technology in a holistic approach from different perspectives, including hardware improvement and optimization, communication essentials and standards, applications, secure elements, privacy and security, usability analysis, and ecosystem and business issues. Further research opportunities in terms of the academic and business points of view are also explored and discussed at the end of each section. This comprehensive survey will be a valuable guide for researchers and academicians, as well as for business in the NFC technology and ecosystem.Publisher's Versio

Near Field Communication: From theory to practice

This book provides the technical essentials, state-of-the-art knowledge, business ecosystem and standards of Near Field Communication (NFC)by NFC Lab - Istanbul research centre which conducts intense research on NFC technology. In this book, the authors present the contemporary research on all aspects of NFC, addressing related security aspects as well as information on various business models. In addition, the book provides comprehensive information a designer needs to design an NFC project, an analyzer needs to analyze requirements of a new NFC based system, and a programmer needs to implement an application. Furthermore, the authors introduce the technical and administrative issues related to NFC technology, standards, and global stakeholders. It also offers comprehensive information as well as use case studies for each NFC operating mode to give the usage idea behind each operating mode thoroughly. Examples of NFC application development are provided using Java technology, and security considerations are discussed in detail. Key Features: Offers a complete understanding of the NFC technology, including standards, technical essentials, operating modes, application development with Java, security and privacy, business ecosystem analysis Provides analysis, design as well as development guidance for professionals from administrative and technical perspectives Discusses methods, techniques and modelling support including UML are demonstrated with real cases Contains case studies such as payment, ticketing, social networking and remote shopping This book will be an invaluable guide for business and ecosystem analysts, project managers, mobile commerce consultants, system and application developers, mobile developers and practitioners. It will also be of interest to researchers, software engineers, computer scientists, information technology specialists including students and graduates.Publisher's Versio

NFC internal: An indoor navigation system

PubMed ID: 25825976Indoor navigation systems have recently become a popular research field due to the lack of GPS signals indoors. Several indoors navigation systems have already been proposed in order to eliminate deficiencies; however each of them has several technical and usability limitations. In this study, we propose NFC Internal, a Near Field Communication (NFC)-based indoor navigation system, which enables users to navigate through a building or a complex by enabling a simple location update, simply by touching NFC tags those are spread around and orient users to the destination. In this paper, we initially present the system requirements, give the design details and study the viability of NFC Internal with a prototype application and a case study. Moreover, we evaluate the performance of the system and compare it with existing indoor navigation systems. It is seen that NFC Internal has considerable advantages and significant contributions to existing indoor navigation systems in terms of security and privacy, cost, performance, robustness, complexity, user preference and commercial availability.Publisher's Versio

A tokenization-based communication architecture for HCE-Enabled NFC services

Following the announcement of Host Card Emulation (HCE) technology, card emulation mode based Near Field Communication (NFC) services have gained further appreciation as an enabler of the Cloud-based Secure Element (SE) concept. A comprehensive and complete architecture with a centralized and feasible business model for diverse HCE-based NFC services will be highly appreciated, particularly by Service Providers and users. To satisfy the need in this new emerging research area, a Tokenization-based communication architecture for HCE-based NFC services is presented in this paper. Our architecture proposes Two-Phased Tokenization to enable the identity management of both user and Service Provider. NFC Smartphone users can store, manage, and make use of their sensitive data on the Cloud for NFC services; Service Providers can also provide diverse card emulation NFC services easily through the proposed architecture. In this paper, we initially present the Two-Phased Tokenization model and then validate the proposed architecture by providing a case study on access control. We further evaluate the usability aspect in terms of an authentication scheme. We then discuss the ecosystem and business model comprised of the proposed architecture and emphasize the contributions to ecosystem actors. Finally, suggestions are provided for data protection in transit and at rest.This work is funded by KocSistem Information and Communication Services Inc. and Turkish Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology under SAN-TEZ Project no. 0726.STZ.2014Publisher's Versio

Comparison of Clinical, Instrumental and Imaging Methods in Diagnosis of Temporomandibular Disorders

Svrha: Osim kliničke procjene u ovom se radu željelo procijeniti i snimke kondilarnih kretnji dobivenih kompjutorskom aksiografi jom u slučaju temporomandibularnih poremećaja kod zdravih osoba i dislokacije diska te prema njihovoj težini rangirane MR-snimke tragova dobivenih u drugim položajima zgloba. Materijal i metode: Analizirano je 18 slučajeva s mišićnim poremećajima (16 ženskih i 2 muška pacijenta prosječne dobi 32,06±15,99) i 11 pacijentica (prosječna dob 25,27±10,05) kod kojih su na pregledu magnetskom rezonancijom bili uočeni različiti stupnjevi intrakapsularnih poremećaja. U kontrolnoj skupini bilo je 6 žena te 4 muškarca prosječne dobi 22,20±2,39. Svi su bili na kompjutorskoj aksiografi ji. Analizirane su i magnetske snimke pacijentata s intrakapsularnim poremećajima. Proučavani su i zvuk zgloba te raspon kretanja mandibule. Podaci su obrađeni statistički (Mann-Whitneyevim U testom, Student t-testom, One-way ANOVA-om i Chi-Squarom α=0,05). Rezultati: Razlike u kretnji otvaranja usta između (dviju) skupina s TMP-om i one kontrolne bile su neznatne (p=0,27). Kad je riječ o čeljusnim zglobovima, razlike između skupina s unutarnjim poremećajem i onih s mišićnim bile su također beznačajne (p=0,09). Kod asimptomatske kontrolne skupine duljina staze čeljusnih zglobova bila je uglavnom simetrična i normalnog raspona. Duljina staze kod skupine s mišićnim poremećajem bila je općenito slična onoj u kontrolnoj skupini, ali kretnje, kad su se ponavljale, nisu bile tako dobre kao kod kontrolne skupine. Duljine staze kod pacijenata s različitim stupnjevima poremećaja dijagnosticiranih magnetskom rezonancijom, bile su kraće od normalnih i bilo je odstupanja, pa i križanja puteva. Zaključak: Osim pažljivog kliničkog pregleda, koristile su se i dijagnostičke tehnike temeljene na promjeni funkcije te sustavi za analizu slika. Koštane strukture, posebice meka tkiva čeljusnih zglobova, mogu se pregledati magnetskom rezonancijom te se može ocijeniti njihov međusobni odnos. Kod metode koja daje podatke o funkcionalnom stanju zgloba, mogu se dobiti objektivni podaci te odrediti postupak liječenja.Objective: In addition to the clinical evaluation, it was aimed to assess the traces obtained by computerized axiography of the condylar movements in temporomandibular disorders (TMD) in healthy individuals together with disc displacements and staged MRI images of these traces obtained in other joint positions. Material and Methods: 18 cases with muscle disorders (16 women and 2 men with mean ages; 32.06±15.99) and 11 cases (11 women, mean age 25.27 ±10.05) observed to have intraarticular disorders at different degrees as a result of MRI evaluation. The control group consisted of 10 cases (6 women and 4 men with mean ages; 22.20 ±2.39). Computerized axiography recordings of all cases were taken. MRI images taken from the cases with intraarticular disorders were evaluated. Joint sounds and mandibular range of motion were evaluated. Data were analyzed statistically. (Mann Whitney-U, Student t-test, One-way ANOVA and Chi-Square α=0.05). Results: The differences between TMD groups and control groups as regards the degrees of mouth opening movement were insignificant (p=0.27). The difference between the internal derangement and muscle disorder groups regarding TMJ sounds were insignificant (p=0.09). The length of the tracings of the asymptomatic control group as regards TMJs was generally symmetrical and in normal range. The tracings of the muscle disorder group were generally similar to those of the control group, however, the reproducibility of the movement was not as good as that in the control group. The tracings of patients with different stages as diagnosed by MRI were shorter than normal, and deviations on pathways in all cases, and crossings in some, were observed. Conclusion: In addition to careful clinical evaluation, function-based diagnosis techniques and imaging systems were utilised. Bony structures and especially soft tissues of the TMJ can be examined by means of MRI and the relations of the tissues with each other can be evaluated. In the method rendering information about the functional condition of the joint, objective data can be filed and the process of treatment can be evaluated

Quantitative Proteomic Analysis of MCM3 in ThinPrep Samples of Patients with Cervical Preinvasive Cancer

Triage methods for cervical cancer detection show moderate accuracy and present considerable false-negative and false-positive result rates. A complementary diagnostic parameter could help improve the accuracy of identifying patients who need treatment. A pilot study was performed using a targeted proteomics approach with opportunistic ThinPrep samples obtained from women collected at the hospital’s outpatient clinic to determine the concentration levels of minichromosome maintenance-3 (MCM3) and envoplakin (EVPL) proteins. Forty samples with ‘negative for intraepithelial lesion or malignancy’ (NILM), 21 samples with ‘atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance’ (ASC-US), and 33 samples with ‘low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion and worse’ (≥LSIL) were analyzed, using cytology and the patients’ histology reports. Highly accurate concordance was obtained for gold-standard-confirmed samples, demonstrating that the MCM3/EVPL ratio can discriminate between non-dysplastic and dysplastic samples. On that account, we propose that MCM3 and EVPL are promising candidate protein biomarkers for population-based cervical cancer screening.</p

The efficacy of cinacalcet in the treatment of hyperparathyroidism in Turkish hemodialysis patient population

WOS: 000393291900012OBJECTIVE: Cinacalcet reduces parathyroid hormone levels by increasing the sensitivity of the parathyroid gland to calcium. in this study, we firstly aimed to evaluate the efficacy of cinacalcet in Turkish hemodialysis patients. MATERIAL and METHODS: 4483 hemodialysis patients were screened and 469 patients who had used cinacalcet were included in the study. the patients were divided into 4 groups according to drug usage durations (Group 1: 3 months, Group 2: 6 months, Group 3: 9 months and Group 4: 12 months). the patients' Parathormone, Ca, P and CaxP levels at the 3rd, 6th, 9th and 12th months were compared to the start of treatment and previous months. RESULTS: the levels of Parathormone, Ca, P and CaxP significantly decreased compared to their initial levels in all groups (from 1412 pg/ml to 1222 pg/mL for Parathormone, p< 0,001) in the 3rd month. However, this reduction was not continued in the subsequent months (Parathormone: 1381 pg/ml for the 12th month). CONCLUSION: Cinacalcet may not provide adequate benefit in control of hyperparathyroidism in Turkish hemodialysis patient population