Publication year: 2012
Source: Information Processing & Management, Available online 9 February 2012

Omar Alonso, Stefano Mizzaro

Crowdsourcing has recently gained a lot of attention as a tool for conducting different kinds of relevance evaluations. At a very high level, crowdsourcing describes outsourcing of tasks to a large group of people instead of assigning such tasks to an in-house employee. This crowdsourcing approach makes possible to conduct information retrieval experiments extremely fast, with good results at a low cost.This paper reports on the first attempts to combine crowdsourcing and TREC: our aim is to validate the use of crowdsourcing for relevance assessment. To this aim, we use the Amazon Mechanical Turk crowdsourcing platform to run experiments on TREC data, evaluate the outcomes, and discuss the results. We make emphasis on the experiment design, execution, and quality control to gather useful results, with particular attention to the issue of agreement among assessors. Our position, supported by the experimental results, is that crowdsourcing is a cheap, quick, and reliable alternative for relevance assessment.

Highlights► Amazon Mechanical Turk Workers as relevance assessors for TREC collection. ► Experimental study measures agreement, reliability, speed, and cheapness. ► Results demonstrate that crowdsourcing quality is comparable to TREC assessors. ► Results for both TREC (binary) and University of Tampere (graded) assessments.

Publication year: 2012
Source: International Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Available online 8 February 2012

M.M. Shawky, T.I. El-Ghareeb, L.A. Hameed Abu Hummos

The aim of this study was to assess the three-dimensional soft tissue changes following anterior segmental maxillary osteotomy, in terms of magnitude and direction in correlation to hard tissue changes, using cone beam computed tomography (CBCT). The study included 6 patients (age range 17–35 years) suffering from dental maxillary protrusion that required surgical correction by anterior segmental maxillary osteotomy. For each patient, preoperative and postoperative CBCT, photographs, and orthodontic casts were taken before and 6 months after operation to analyse soft tissue changes, in terms of magnitude and direction in correlation to hard tissue changes, using linear and angular measurements. Hard and soft tissue changes were only observed in the maxillary region, upper lip area and nasal tip. Soft tissue mean change included 53% backward displacement of the labrale superius in relation to bone displacement and 18.7% mean increase in the naso-labial angle. The highest correlation coefficient was obtained between the hard and soft tissue changes in the upper lip region. Anterior segmental maxillary osteotomy might be recommended as the treatment modality of choice in patients with maxillary or dento-alveolar protrusion, the technique is simple, safe, and postoperative complications are minimal.

Publication year: 2012
Source: Information Processing & Management, Available online 8 February 2012

Jung-Hee Yun, Chin-Wan Chung

Recently there is a growing interest in the data model and query processing for probabilistic XML data. There are many potential applications of probabilistic data, and the XML data model is suitable to represent hierarchical information and data uncertainty of different levels naturally. However, the previously proposed probabilistic XML data models and query processing techniques separate finding data matches with evaluating the probabilities of results. Therefore, they should repeatedly access the data and need to get full data of paths given in queries to calculate the probabilities of results.In this paper, we propose an extended interval-based labeling scheme for the probabilistic XML data tree and an efficient query processing procedure using the labeling scheme. Against previous researches, our method accesses only the labels of data specified in queries and finds data matches simultaneously with evaluating the probability of each data match. Also, we present an extended probabilistic XML query model with the predicates for the values of probabilities and a lightweight index for those probabilities in order to eliminate unnecessary access to data that will not be included in results.Experimental results show that our approach is efficient in probabilistic XML query processing and our index scheme significantly improves the performance of query processing when the predicates for the values of probabilities are given.

Highlights► A new labeling scheme, extended interval-based labeling scheme, for probabilistic XML data management. ► Procedures to process probabilistic XML queries efficiently using the extended interval-based labeling scheme. ► An extended probabilistic XML query model and a lightweight index for probabilities.

Publication year: 2012
Source: International Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Available online 7 February 2012

N. Skorpil, B. van den Bergh, M.W. Heymans, T. Forouzanfar

This study was designed to investigate retrospectively the incidence of venous thromboembolism (VTE) and the need for thromboembolism prophylaxis in patients undergoing surgery for oral and maxillofacial trauma. Data were obtained from all patients treated under general anaesthesia for maxillofacial trauma between January 2000 and January 2009 in the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery of the VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam. Patients’ records were reviewed for complaints and information related to deep venous thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE). The patients were classified according to a risk classification, and the incidence of reported DVT and PE was calculated. None of the patients received any form of thromboembolism prophylaxis. Of the 479 patients included in this study, one presented with VTE (0.2%). This male patient was treated for a panfacial trauma and was classified as high risk. From all analysed parameters only surgery time classification proved to have a significant relationship with VTE.

Publication year: 2012
Source: Journal of Comparative Pathology, Available online 6 February 2012

K. Han, H.W. Seo, Y. Oh, I. Kang, C. Park, ...

The aim of this study was to elucidate the pathogenesis of experimental infection with Korean type 1 porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) by defining the virus distribution, sites of viral replication, viraemia and gross and microscopical lesions in conventional pigs studied for 28 days after intranasal inoculation. Mean rectal temperature was significantly higher in infected pigs than in negative control pigs at 2 days post inoculation (dpi) (P = 0.004), 3 dpi (P < 0.001), 4 dpi (P = 0.003) and 5 dpi (P = 0.034). The log10TCID50/ml of type 1 PRRSV increased significantly at 0–1 dpi (P = 0.024) and 5–7 dpi (P = 0.029), but decreased at 10–14 dpi (P = 0.026) and 14–21 dpi (P = 0.012) in infected pigs. Infected pigs developed multifocal, tan-mottled areas of lung tissue with irregular and indistinct borders. Microscopical lesions, when present, were multifocal, mild to moderate, generally most extensive at 5–7 dpi (P = 0.036), and were nearly resolved at 28 dpi. Type 1 PRRSV nucleic acid and antigen were detected exclusively within the cytoplasm of macrophages and type I and II pneumocytes. The score for PRRSV-positive cells increased at 3–7 dpi (P < 0.05) and decreased at 10–14 dpi (P = 0.034) in infected pigs. Thus, respiratory disease was reproduced in conventional pigs by infection with Korean type 1 PRRSV.

Publication year: 2012
Source: Journal of Comparative Pathology, Available online 6 February 2012

N. Pirarat, T. Katagiri, N. Chansue, A. Ponpornpisit, M. Endo, ...

The toxicity of melamine and its analogue in man and animals has been reported widely. The aim of the present study was to examine the pathological effects of feeding melamine and cyanuric acid, separately or in combination, to walking catfish (Clarius batrachus). The catfish developed darkening of the skin as early as 3 days post feeding. Melamine-related crystals were distributed multifocally throughout the liver, kidney, heart, spleen and corpuscle of Stannius of fish fed melamine and cyanuric acid in combination. Oil red O staining and electron microscopy revealed that the melamine-related crystals had structure resembling that of plastic polymer crystals. Elevations in the serum concentrations of alanine transaminase, aspartate transaminase, creatinine and uric acid were related to the crystal-associated granulomatous inflammation in the liver and kidney of affected fish. None of the catfish died during the 2-week experiment. Melamine and cyanuric acid are therefore systemically toxic to fish in addition to causing renal crystal formation and renal damage as seen in man and animals. The finding of extrarenal crystals implies that the metabolism and biotransformation of these toxic compounds should be further investigated in aquatic animals.

Publication year: 2012
Source: International Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Available online 4 February 2012

M. Almasri, M. El-Hakim

Implant placement in an anterior atrophic mandible is not an uncommon procedure. Fracture secondary to such implant placement is a rare complication. The authors discuss a case referred to their surgical centre and discuss the management approaches found in the English literature.

Publication year: 2012
Source: International Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Available online 3 February 2012

S.A. Ogunmuyiwa, O.A. Fatusi, V.I. Ugboko, O.O. Ayoola, S.M. Maaji

The aims of this study were to determine the sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values of ultrasonography in detecting zygomaticomaxillary complex fractures, and to highlight factors that may affect the validity of ultrasonography in the diagnosis of zygomaticomaxillary complex fracture. Twenty-one patients with suspected fractures of the zygomaticomaxillary complex presenting at the authors’ hospital were included in this prospective study. All the patients had plain radiographic and computed tomography (CT) investigations. All underwent ultrasonographic examination of the affected region using an ultrasound machine with a 7.5 MHz probe. The different radiologists were not aware of the results of the other two investigations. Statistical significance was inferred atP < 0.05. The validity of ultrasonography varied with fracture sites with a sensitivity of 100% for zygomatic arch fractures, 90% for infraorbital margin fractures and 25% for frontozygomatic suture separation. Specificity was 100% for the three types of fracture. There was no statistically significant difference in the ability of CT scan and ultrasonography to diagnose fractures from various zygomaticomaxillary complex fracture sites (P = 0.47). Ultrasonography has proved to be a valid tool for the diagnosis of zygomatic arch and displaced infraorbital margin fractures.

Publication year: 2012
Source: Journal of Comparative Pathology, Available online 3 February 2012

E. van Esch, S. Brennan

Microscopical evaluation of tissues from a mature female cynomolgus monkey assigned to a 13-week oral toxicity study revealed nests of sebaceous cells within the mucosa of the distal oesophagus. The sebaceous cell nests showed normal differentiation from basally-oriented seboblasts to centrally-orientated mature sebocytes. No excretory ducts were found, but solitary or small groups of vacuolated sebocytes were present in the overlying normal, non-keratinized squamous epithelium. The finding of sebaceous cells, of presumed ectodermal origin, in the oesophageal mucosa, which is of endodermal origin, is of scientific interest. Different theories may explain the existence of this peculiarity, but sebaceous gland metaplasia is the most plausible. The mucosal change was thought to be unrelated to treatment and is the first case of sebaceous gland metaplasia reported in the oesophagus of a non-human primate.

Publication year: 2012
Source: International Journal of Non-Linear Mechanics, Available online 2 February 2012

B. Baksys, J. Baskutiene

The paper discusses the directional motion of the vibratory excited compliant body in respect to the stationary support which has the internal slot. Such a model and proposed mathematical approach represent a part-to-part interaction in the assembly position, whereas the motion of the compliant body characterizes the alignment of the mating parts. The characteristics of the motion of the compliant body under kinematical excitation along the direction of the joining axis are analyzed using the numerical technique. The dependences of the alignment duration upon the force of the body pressing to the support, the stiffness of the elastic constraints and the amplitude and frequency of the excitation are determined. The directional motion is performed by the body in respect to the support only when the parameters of the mechanical systems and excitation are adjusted. The areas of the parameter sets are defined considering the occurrence of the successful alignment of the connective surfaces. The body can move from the static to the dynamic position of equilibrium. The distance between these positions determines the maximum error of the interdependent position of the connective surfaces when the alignment of the parts is still possible. To explore the shaft alignment in respect to the bushing the experimental setup is made and the experiments of the alignment under kinematical excitation of the shaft along the bushing direction are accomplished. The experimental dependences of the alignment duration both on the shaft pressing force to the bushing and the excitation frequency are defined and the areas of the parameter sets are determined when the shaft is aligned successfully in respect to the bushing. The experimental results confirm the applicability of the mathematical approach.

Highlights► We model the vibratory motion of the compliant body considering the automated assembly. ► ► The success and duration of the alignment depend on the parameters of the system and vibratory excitation. ► Experimental analysis of the shaft-to-bushing alignment confirms the proposed mathematical approach. ► The vibratory alignment of the parts occurs under proper adjustment of the parameters.

Publication year: 2012
Source: International Journal of Non-Linear Mechanics, Available online 31 January 2012

André Roy, Juan A. Carretero

The Gonthier et al. volume-based contact dynamics model addressed many different phenomena that influence the force of contact between two objects. This work extends Gonthier et al.'s work by proposing an alternate damping model based on material properties. The normal contact force based on volumetric interference information is derived using principles of mechanics of materials. The volume of interference and its rate of change are shown to be analogues to the material deformation and deformation rate. Simulations of the free direct central impact between two identical spheres are run using the proposed model, the Hunt-Crossley model and the Gonthier et al. model; these are compared to experimental data from the literature. This is followed by a discussion of those models.

Highlights► Realistic asymmetric damping term. ► Volume-based model. ► Derived from basic principles. ► Validation against other models. ► Suitable for superimposition to include other contact effects.

Publication year: 2012
Source: Computers & Chemical Engineering, Available online 2 February 2012

P. Plouffe, J. Gamage, R. Ball, E.J. Anthony

Endex calcium looping is a novel early-stage technology for separating CO2from flue gases that shows great potential for reducing the high cost of the regeneration step because the calcination temperature is significantly lower. In this work an Endex calcium looping system is modelled as a train of continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) elements mass-coupled in series and thermally coupled in parallel. A novel simulator was developed that incorporates object-oriented design to describe the Endex reactor and its components, and used to study the effects of varying the most important design and operating parameters. From a reactor design point of view, varying the heat transfer coefficient and the sorbent flow rate amounts to testing the classic tradeoff between capital and running costs: we may choose between higher capital costs (larger heat transfer coefficient) and lower running costs (low sorbent flow rate) or vice versa, for similar scrubbing and regeneration efficiencies.

Highlights► Object-oriented simulation of an Endex calcium looping reactor for carbon capture. ► Plug flow reactor modeled byNidentical CSTR elements in series. ► Effects of varying pressure, heat exchange, sorbent flow, and volume on reactor performance were studied.

Publication year: 2012
Source: Computers & Chemical Engineering, Available online 1 February 2012

Diego A. Muñoz, Johannes Gerhard, Wolfgang Marquardt

In this work the normal vector method is extended to the simultaneous treatment of parametric uncertainty and disturbances. This method ensures that desired dynamic properties hold despite parametric uncertainty by maintaining a minimal distance between the operating point and so-called critical manifolds where the process behavior changes qualitatively. Here, unknown exogeneous disturbances and uncertain model and process parameters are considered simultaneously. To address this simultaneous problem formulation, the augmented systems developed for only parameterized disturbances in previous works have to be modified and extended. A generalized formulation of the robust optimization problem results, which includes normal vector constraints on critical manifolds of steady states and of bounds on the state transient. The numerical methods are further developed to prepare for the treatment of high-dimensional problems. Illustrative case studies considering the design of a continuous mixed-suspension mixed-product removal crystallization process and the Tennessee Eastman process are presented.

Highlights► The normal vector approach is proposed for integrated process and control design. ► In this study we extend our method to consider parametric uncertainty and disturbances. ► This new formulation overcomes the disadvantages of heuristic approaches. ► The numerical methods are developed for the treatment of high-dimensional problems.

Publication year: 2012
Source: Journal of Operations Management, Available online 2 February 2012

Kanghwa Choi, Ram Narasimhan, Soo Wook Kim

This paper contributes to research on “postponement” strategy in the context of a global production-distribution system of an automobile manufacturer. It proposes a model that integrates multiple considerations germane to global supply chains. Postponement is important in this context because it is necessary to consider international transfers and tariffs, and it is important to appropriately account for the impact of postponement on total costs. Consideration of several key variables such as shipping point, customs tariff, and cost differences between countries is essential to derive full benefits from postponement strategy in global supply chains. International transfer of goods among countries in global automobile industry is complex and dynamic because of the multitude of factors that must be considered. The paper develops insights regarding postponement strategy in global supply chains via a system dynamics simulation model. The model draws on the experiences of a Korean automobile manufacturer with operations in developing and developed countries.The results of the system dynamics simulations show that the choice of optimal shipping point and the right level of postponement under the “decoupling points” strategy in global operations has a significant effect on overall cost efficiency, when decoupling point and postponement timing are considered simultaneously. The results also show that there are key differences in executing the postponement strategy when shipping to a developing country as opposed to a developed country.This insight has practical implications for global operations and is helpful in developing a sophisticated framework for executing the postponement strategy as manufacturing firms expand their operations globally.

Publication year: 2012
Source: Information Processing & Management, Available online 2 February 2012

[No author name available]

Publication year: 2012
Source: Information Processing & Management, Available online 1 February 2012

Enver Kayaaslan, B. Barla Cambazoglu, Cevdet Aykanat

Large-scale web search engines are composed of multiple data centers that are geographically distant to each other. Typically, a user query is processed in a data center that is geographically close to the origin of the query, over a replica of the entire web index. Compared to a centralized, single-center search engine, this architecture offers lower query response times as the network latencies between the users and data centers are reduced. However, it does not scale well with increasing index sizes and query traffic volumes because queries are evaluated on the entire web index, which has to be replicated and maintained in all data centers. As a remedy to this scalability problem, we propose a document replication framework in which documents are selectively replicated on data centers based on regional user interests. Within this framework, we propose three different document replication strategies, each optimizing a different objective: reducing the potential search quality loss, the average query response time, or the total query workload of the search system. For all three strategies, we consider two alternative types of capacity constraints on index sizes of data centers. Moreover, we investigate the performance impact of query forwarding and result caching. We evaluate our strategies via detailed simulations, using a large query log and a document collection obtained from the Yahoo! web search engine.

Highlights► Document replication strategies for geographically distributed search engines. ► Search quality, average query response time, and query workload criteria. ► Selective, partial document replication is superior to full or no replication. ► Experiments with a real-life setting and a large query log.

Publication year: 2012
Source: Journal of Comparative Pathology, Available online 3 February 2012

C. Salvadori, G. Vattemi, M. Marini, E. Bocchese, G. Tomelleri, ...

A 10-year-old neutered female domestic longhaired cat was referred for evaluation of forelimb weakness and lameness. There was hypertrophy and firmness of the musculature with no neurological deficits. Moderate increase of creatine kinase activity was present. Muscle biopsy showed rounded atrophic and hypertrophic fibres, an increased number of centrally located myofibre nuclei, scattered rimmed vacuoles and mild perimysial and endomysial fibrosis. Myofibre necrosis with phagocytosis was present in the gluteal muscle. Immunohistochemistry revealed absence of sarcolemmal caveolin-3 in almost all muscle fibres and sarcoplasmic accumulation of the protein in approximately 30% of myofibres. Normal expression of caveolin-3 was detected by immunoblotting, so protein mislocalization in the sarcoplasm due to aberrant trafficking towards the sarcolemma was suspected. This case represents the first example of muscular dystrophy due to a caveolinopathy in animals.

Publication year: 2012
Source: Journal of Comparative Pathology, Available online 3 February 2012

Y. Kato, H. Notake, J. Kimura, M. Murakami, A. Hirata, ...

A 2-year-old male Welsh corgi dog was brought to an animal hospital because of left upper eyelid enlargement with lachrymal gland protrusion. The lachrymal and orbital cavity mass was removed surgically. Microscopically, the orbital mass consisted of a mixture of large rhabdomyoblastic and small round tumour cells. Immunohistochemically, the rhabdomyoblastic cells expressed desmin and myoglobin and the small round cells expressed desmin, myogenin and MyoD1. A diagnosis of embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma (ERS) was made. One month later, multiple masses throughout the body were identified, in particular around the cervical region. One of these lesions was sampled and diagnosed as metastatic ERS. The dog died 84 days after the time of first admission.

Publication year: 2012
Source: Journal of Comparative Pathology, Available online 3 February 2012

A.A. Freitas, V.B.L. Moura, S.F. Gonçalves, A.A. Rodrigues, R.M. Félix, ...

The larval stage ofTaenia crassicepshas been used to study human cysticercosis as these larvae have antigenic similarity to the cysticerci ofTaenia solium. The aim of this study was to evaluate the histopathological and immunological changes that followed the inoculation ofT. crassicepscysticerci into the subcutaneous tissue of C57BL/6 mice. Microscopically, granulomas formed of neutrophils and macrophages developed at the sites of inoculation. The serum concentration of the cytokine interferon (IFN)-γ increased throughout the course of infection, while the serum concentration of interleukin-4 increased during the period of transition from the initial phase (7–30 days postinoculation [dpi]) to the late phase (60–90 dpi) of infection. Destruction of the parasite therefore appears to be associated with an increase in IFN-γ, suggesting that a type 1 immune response is important in the control of the parasite.

Publication year: 2012
Source: Journal of Molecular Biology, Volume 416, Issue 3, 24 February 2012, Pages i

[No author name available]