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The effect of the rigor stage (pre or post) and previous high-pressure processing (HPP; 450 and 550 MPa for 3 min) was checked during the storage on ice of farmed palm ruff (Seriolella violacea). Fish processed in pre-rigor conditions led to higher and lower levels (p < 0.05) of moisture and lipid contents in chilled fish, respectively, when compared to their counterpart samples processed in the post-rigor stage. Pre-rigor fish showed a higher (p < 0.05) quality level than post-rigor samples according to the assessment of the K value (59.0–92.1 and 70.3–96.3 ranges, respectively), fluorescent compounds (0.29–1.11 and 0.37–1.90 ranges, respectively), free fatty acids (FFA) (15.1–188.0 and 33.8–232.5 g·kg−1 lipids ranges, respectively), and total volatile amines (216.3–387.6 and 217.7–412.2 g·kg−1 muscle ranges, respectively). Pressure-treated fish showed higher (p < 0.05) quality retention than non-treated samples according to the formation of fluorescent compounds (0.29–0.86 and 0.85–1.90 ranges, respectively), FFA (15.1–50.6 and 58.9–223.5 g·kg−1 lipids ranges, respectively), and total volatile amines (216.3–250.3 and 351.1–412.2 g·kg−1 muscle ranges, respectively) and the evolution of the K value (59.0–77.2 and 86.9–96.3 ranges, respectively). The use of pre-rigor fish and previous HPP is recommended for the commercialisation of the current species as a fresh product. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the preparation process, fabrication technique, and characterization of spark plasma sintered (SPS) MXene–Ti3C2Tx–polypyrrole (MX–PPy) nanocomposites for energy storage applications are presented. The investigation of the electrical conductivity, elemental mapping, surface morphology, particle size, structural analysis, thermal stability, chemical features, and specific capacity of SPS MX–PPy nanocomposite was examined by electrical conductivity measuring equipment (ECME), scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), X-ray diffraction analyzer (XRD), thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrophotometer, and cyclic voltammetry (CV). The as-prepared MXene (MX), through an electrochemical process, was SPS with polypyrrole (PPy) with different MX loading at the temperature of 280 °C, the heating rate of 100 degrees/mins and pressure of 50 MPa. The fabricated MX–PPy nanocomposites showed different electrical conductivities, with the sintered nanocomposite at 0.5 mass fraction of MX showing the optimal electrical conductivity of 352.69 S/m and a total weight loss of approximately 0.9% at 450 °C. More so, the particle size of each nanocomposite ranges from 50 to 200 nm as evident in the TEM analysis. Also, the morphological studies on the nanocomposites showed the intercalation of PPy in-between the MX nanosheets for MX inclusion at 0.5 mass fraction. Finally, the specific capacity of the sintered nanocomposite with 0.5 mass fraction of MX, is 271 mAh/g, as calculated from CV test, which suggests such material to be a viable electrode for energy storage applications.Please check and confirm the author names and initials are correct. Also, kindly confirm the details in the metadata are correct.The author names and initials are correct, including the details in the metadata. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cloud auditing model was attractive for the cloud storage system to check the integrity of the stored user files. Hence, to maximize the security concern, federated learning and the blockchain were introduced. But, in some cases, security issues arose because of the extensive unstructured data and attack vulnerability. So, to avoid security problems and offer better protection in a cloud environment, a novel Optimized Buffalo-based Homomorphic SHA Blockchain (OBHSB) is proposed. In this model for accessing the cloud storage data with the critical matching method, if any of the unauthenticated users are trying to access the file initially, the system checks the key matching parameter. The proposed model was developed to provide better security in big data presented in the cloud environment. Hence, federated learning was adopted to create the cloud auditing phase in the distributed cloud environment. Therefore, it gives flexibility in training all data types: audio, text, and images. Moreover, the prime performance parameters were calculated and compared with other traditional approaches to justify the efficiency of the proposed model. The attack was considered an event in this research. The performance rate of the proposed model was validated in the performance analysis. Subsequently, the case study was developed in this research to explain the working procedure of the proposed design, and the result of the proposed model was discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to find efficient solutions to a multi-objective optimization problem (MP) with convex polynomial data. To this end, a hybrid method, which allows us to transform problem (MP) into a scalar convex polynomial optimization problem (P z) and does not destroy the properties of convexity, is considered. First, we show an existence result for efficient solutions to problem (MP) under some mild assumption. Then, for problem (P z) , we establish two kinds of representations of non-negativity of convex polynomials over convex semi-algebraic sets, and propose two kinds of finite convergence results of the Lasserre-type hierarchy of semidefinite programming relaxations for problem (P z) under suitable assumptions. Finally, we show that finding efficient solutions to problem (MP) can be achieved successfully by solving hierarchies of semidefinite programming relaxations and checking a flat truncation condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sample collection, processing, storage and isolation methods constitute pre-analytic factors that can influence the quality of samples used in research and clinical practice. With regard to biobanking practices, a critical point in the sample's life chain is storage, particularly long-term storage. Since most studies examine the influence of different temperatures (4°C, room temperature) or delays in sample processing on sample quality, there is only little information on the effects of long-term storage at ultra-low (vapor phase of liquid nitrogen) temperatures on biomarker levels. Among these biomarkers, circulating miRNAs hold great potential for diagnosis or prognosis for a variety of diseases, like cancer, infections and chronic diseases, and are thus of high interest in several scientific questions. We therefore investigated the influence of long-term storage on levels of eight circulating miRNAs (miR-103a-3p, miR-191-5p, miR-124-3p, miR-30c-5p, miR-451a, miR-23a-3p, miR-93-5p, miR-24-3p, and miR-33b-5p) from 10 participants from the population-based cohort study KORA. Sample collection took place during the baseline survey S4 and the follow-up surveys F4 and FF4, over a time period spanning from 1999 to 2014. The influence of freeze-thaw (f/t) cycles on miRNA stability was also investigated using samples from volunteers (n = 6). Obtained plasma samples were profiled using Exiqon's miRCURYTM real-time PCR profiling system, and repeated measures ANOVA was used to check for storage or f/t effects. Our results show that detected levels of most of the studied miRNAs showed no statistically significant changes due to storage at ultra-low temperatures for up to 17 years; miR-451a levels were altered due to contamination during sampling. Freeze-thawing of one to four cycles showed an effect only on miR-30c-5p. Our results highlight the robustness of this set of circulating miRNAs for decades of storage at ultra-low temperatures and several freeze-thaw cycles, which makes our findings increasingly relevant for research conducted with biobanked samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By analogy with continued fractions, the angular domain of convergence of branched continued fraction of a special form is established. The truncation error bound for branched continued fractions of the special form is established. For this we have used the estimates for continued fractions obtained by J. Jensen, W. Gragg, D. Warner, the multidimensional analogue of the van Vleck Theorem, the analytic theory of continued fractions and branched continued fractions and elements of the theory of stability under perturbations. In comparison with already known results, in the paper, isolation conditions from zero for elements of branched continued fractions of the special form are weakened, but there are some requirements for the elements' rate of tending to zero. The obtained result is a multidimensional analogue of estimates for van Vleck continued fractions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the parameter dependence of numerical results obtained by the tensor renormalization group. We often observe irregular behavior as the parameters are varied with the method. Using the two-dimensional Ising model we explicitly show that the sharp cutoff used in the truncated singular value decomposition causes this unwanted behavior when the level crossing happens between singular values below and above the truncation order as the parameters are varied. We also test a smooth cutoff, instead of the sharp one, as a truncation scheme and discuss its effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • A multi-block sigma–coordinate is developed to simulate bed evolutions for the first time. • A multi-block sigma–coordinate can easily increase depth directional resolution. • A multi-block sigma–coordinate follows bed evolution by different numbers of horizontal layers. • A multi-block sigma–coordinate has no significant impact on the time steps within the application range. Abstract This paper aims at developing a multi-block sigma-coordinate to simulate morphological evolutions. The developed multi-block sigma-coordinate can represent a steep slope topography smoothly with different numbers of horizontal layers, without producing any truncation error and artificial flux (PGFE). The multi-block sigma–coordinate can easily increase the depth-direction resolution of the sediment transport module in the sub-regions, without the aggregation of computational points in the shallow areas which may be caused by using high resolution over the entire domain. The model is beneficial for long-term simulation of morphological evaluations in lakes where the bed slope near delta region (the sedimentary area which forms where a river enters a lake/ocean) is mostly steep, and delta keeps advancing down the lake. The multi-block sigma approach at the block interface, where the number of horizontal layers varies, allocates the flux to the neighboring cells according to two essential factors, namely "the common border length" and "satisfying continuity" which lead to defining the virtual cells. A series of numerical tests have been performed. Comparison between the numerical results, the analytical solutions, and the experimental data demonstrated an appreciable accuracy, a satisfactory performance and the efficiency of this scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solid-state disks (SSDs) with NAND Flash media are widely used in various aspects of data storage because of their fast read/write speed, low power consumption, and non-volatile and superior vibration resistance. Due to the inherent physical limitations of NAND Flash, the reliability of SSDs decreases greatly over time. A multi-channel redundant check storage technology based on cold and hot data stripes is proposed in this study to improve the reliability of the SSD without degrading read/write performance. First, this design proposed a storage array similar to Raid-4 built in the SSD whose inner storage array was partitioned into independent data and parity storage areas accommodating user data and parity information, respectively. Second, the flash translation layer (FTL) with different area management policies was established for two storage areas above. The data area and the parity area were used to store and manage user data and parity through their respective FTLs, including different address mapping, wear-leveling, and garbage collection methods. Finally, in the FTL of the parity area, the stripes were classified into cold stripes and hot stripes according to the updating times of each stripe. Therefore the cold stripe parity could be distinguished and directly written into the NAND Flash. The parity to the hot stripe was stored in the data buffer first and subsequently written into the NAND Flash when the hot stripe turned into a cold stripe. Results show that our proposed method improves the reliability and read/write performance of the SSD by establishing a Raid-4-like memory array inside the SSD. Meanwhile, applying dual FTLs and hot and cold stripe technology can reduce the page number of data erasure and write, thus improving the service life of the NAND Flash. Compared with the traditional Raid-5 array, the number of write parity in our design can be reduced by average 40%, and read/write performance improves over 30% at the same time. The study provides a new design for improving the reliability of SSDs, especially those with frequent write requests in practical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using some formulas of hypergeometric series and properties of the gamma function, we deduce certain p-adic supercongruence relations concerning truncated hypergeometric series. As consequences, we confirm the conjectural supercongruences (see Conjecture 1.2 [Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 145 (2017), no. 2, 501-508]) posed by Bing He and extend them to all primes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A comparative study based on combined special projections and important frequency-weighted model order reduction (MOR) algorithms to compute optimal approximants for full order digital filters is achieved. It is about the gradient flow (GF) without frequency weighted, the frequency-weighted balanced truncation (FWBT), the GF with frequency weighted (FWGF) and the frequency cross-gramian (CGF) techniques, where special projections of frequency-weighted approximation are used. The obtained low order approximants are expected to follow the original digital filter behavior. With the aim of highlighting the best technique from their implementation, a comparative study is achieved when comparing with a robust MOR technique. Furthermore, two robust performance tools are used namely, the L 2 norm, and the integral-squared error (ISE) allowed to conclude on the efficiency of the best approximation algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Model reduction can greatly reduce complexity and difficulty of control design for spatiotemporal systems (STS) in engineering applications. Empirical eigenfunctions (EEFs) are widely used for the model reduction of spatiotemporal systems, however, truncation of higher modes may describe the behaviours of nonlinear spatiotemporal systems inaccurately. In this paper, modified EEFs are proposed and applied to model reduction of nonlinear spatiotemporal systems. Modified EEFs are obtained via modifying the weights matrix in the method of snapshots, which can be rewritten as linear combinations of initial EEFs. The coefficient matrix for combinations is computed according to the nonlinear temporal dynamics of STSs. Thus, the effects of higher modes are considered into modified EEFs with less computational requirements. The reduced model can give a more accurate description for behaviours of the system. The performance of the proposed method is further proved theoretically, and a numerical example demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we construct the exact solution of Liouville Bratu Gelfand (LBG) equation. This equation has Painlevé property under a point transformation. Painlevé analysis based on the truncated singular manifold method is satisfied. Bäcklund transformation is obtained and is applied to reduce the problem to a system of nonlinear differential equations. This system is reduced to a factorized form due to the symmetry of the equation. By solving this factorized form, we obtain exact solution for LBG equation satisfying the boundary conditions. The solution is plotted for different values of λ and is compared with previous numerical results. According to our intensive search there is no exact solution of the problem. The obtained solution shows that the transformation does not change the properties of the equation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new class of higher-spin gauge theories associated with various Coxeter groups is proposed. The emphasize is on the Bp-models. The cases of B1 and its infinite graded-symmetric product sym (×B1)∞ correspond to the usual higher-spin theory and its multi-particle extension, respectively. The multi-particle B2-higher-spin theory is conjectured to be associated with String Theory. Bp-higher-spin models with p > 2 are anticipated to be dual to the rank-p boundary tensor sigma-models. Bp higher-spin models with p ≥ 2 possess two coupling constants responsible for higher-spin interactions in AdS background and stringy/tensor effects, respectively. The brane-like idempotent extension of the Coxeter higher-spin theory is proposed allowing to unify in the same model the fields supported by space-times of different dimensions. Consistency of the holographic interpretation of the boundary matrix-like model in the B2-higher-spin model is shown to demand N ≥ 4 SUSY, suggesting duality with the N = 4 SYM upon spontaneous breaking of higher-spin symmetries. The proposed models are shown to admit unitary truncations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study magnetically-charged supersymmetric flow equations in a consistent truncation of gauged N = 8 supergravity in five dimensions. This truncation gives gauged N = 2 supergravity coupled to two vector multiplets and two hypermultiplets. We derive magnetically-charged flow equations of scalar fields from vector and hypermultiplets. It turns out that there could be only up to two nontrivial scalar fields out of eight from the hypermultiplets. Along the way, we recover some known AdS3 solutions of the flow equations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a system of partial differential equations describing an inviscid, one dimensional, self-gravitating and spherically symmetric interstellar gas cloud is considered. An infinite set of transport equations is obtained by using the method based on the kinematics of one dimensional motion of shock waves. A truncation procedure is used to put an end to infinite hierarchy of equations. The first three truncated equations (i.e. zeroth, first and second orders) describing shock strength and the induced discontinuities are considered and used to study the growth and decay of shock waves in the medium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Pogorelov polytope is a combinatorial simple 3-polytope realizable in the Lobachevsky (hyperbolic) space as a bounded right-angled polytope. These polytopes are exactly simple 3-polytopes with cyclically 5-edge connected graphs. A Pogorelov polytope has no 3- and 4-gons and may have any prescribed numbers of k-gons, k ≥ 7. Any simple polytope with only 5-, 6- and at most one 7-gon is Pogorelov. For any other prescribed numbers of k-gons, k ≥ 7, we give an explicit construction of a Pogorelov and a non-Pogorelov polytope. Any Pogorelov polytope different from k-barrels (also known as Löbel polytopes, whose graphs are biladders on 2k vertices) can be constructed from the 5- or the 6-barrel by cutting off pairs of adjacent edges and connected sums with the 5-barrel along a 5-gon with the intermediate polytopes being Pogorelov. For fullerenes, there is a stronger result. Any fullerene different from the 5-barrel and the (5, 0)-nanotubes can be constructed by only cutting off adjacent edges from the 6-barrel with all the intermediate polytopes having 5-, 6- and at most one additional 7-gon adjacent to a 5-gon. This result cannot be literally extended to the latter class of polytopes. We prove that it becomes valid if we additionally allow connected sums with the 5-barrel and 3 new operations, which are compositions of cutting off adjacent edges. We generalize this result to the case when the 7-gon may be isolated from 5-gons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We studied X-ray reverberation lags in the Black hole X-ray binary (BHXRB) GX 339–4 at the end of the 2014-2015 outburst. We analysed data from an XMM–Newton campaign covering the end of the transition from the soft to hard state, and the decrease of luminosity in the hard state. During all the observations we detected, at high frequencies, significant disc variability, responding to variations of the power-law emission with an average time delay of ~0.009 ± 0.002 s. These new detections of disc thermal reverberation add to those previously obtained and suggest the lag to be always present in hard and hard-intermediate states. Our study reveals a net decrease of lag amplitude as a function of luminosity. We ascribe this trend to variations of the inner flow geometry. A possible scenario implies a decrease of the inner disc truncation radius as the luminosity increases at the beginning of the outburst, followed by an increase of the inner disc truncation radius as the luminosity decreases at the end of the outburst. Finally, we found hints of FeK reverberation (~3σ significance) during the best quality observation of the XMM monitoring. The lag at the FeK energy has similar amplitude as that of the thermally reprocessed component, as expected if the same irradiated region of the disc is responsible for producing both the thermalized and reflected components. This finding suggests FeK reverberation in BHXRBs to be at the reach of current detectors provided observations of sufficiently long exposure are available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we propose an energy efficient approximate multiplier design obtained by truncating the input operands. In the structure, the n-bit multiplication operation is transformed to a smaller bit length multiplication plus some add and shift operations. The simple calculation core makes the multiplier a scalable yet low power structure. Also, we suggest an output quality-tunable multiplier providing ability to change the output quality during the multiplication operation. The characteristics of the proposed multiplier are compared with those of the exact and some other approximate multipliers in a 45 nm technology. The comparison reveals an average improvement of 89.2% (74.9%) in terms of the energy (area) compared to that of the exact multiplier. The utility of the proposed multiplier in a JPEG encoder application is also investigated. The results reveal that the Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR) reduction is at most 0.15 dB compared to that of the exact one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Approximate computing is an attractive design methodology to achieve low power, high performance (low delay) and reduced circuit complexity by relaxing the requirement of accuracy. In this paper, approximate Booth multipliers are designed based on approximate radix-4 modified Booth encoding (MBE) algorithms and a regular partial product array that employs an approximate Wallace tree. Two approximate Booth encoders are proposed and analyzed for error-tolerant computing. The error characteristics are analyzed with respect to the so-called approximation factor that is related to the inexact bit width of the Booth multipliers. Simulation results at 45 nm feature size in CMOS for delay, area and power consumption are also provided. The results show that the proposed 16-bit approximate radix-4 Booth multipliers with approximate factors of 12 and 14 are more accurate than existing approximate Booth multipliers with moderate power consumption. The proposed R4ABM2 multiplier with an approximation factor of 14 is the most efficient design when considering both power-delay product and the error metric NMED. Case studies for image processing show the validity of the proposed approximate radix-4 Booth multipliers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The method for avoiding the termination errors proposed by Narten, Venkatesh, and Rice (J. Chem. Phys. 64, 1106 (1976)) is applied to analyze the old and new experimental x-ray diffraction data on water. The fine structure in the pair distribution function (particularly the shoulder at r ~ 3.5 Å) which was observed in many works is demonstrated to be undoubtedly an artifact. The more recent data, which are free of the truncation effects, still remain imperfect and need further refinements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is a simulation-based warning note for practitioners who use the MGLS unit root tests in the context of structural change using different selection lag length criteria. With T = 100, we find severe oversize problems when using some criteria, while other criteria produce an undersizing behavior. In view of this dilemma, we do not recommend using these tests. While such behavior tends to disappear when T = 250, it is important to note that most empirical applications use smaller sample sizes such as T = 100 or T = 150. The ADFGLS test does not present an oversizing or undersizing problem. The only disadvantage of the ADFGLS test arises in the presence of MA(1) negative correlation, in which case the MGLS tests are preferable, but in all other cases they are very undersized. When there is a break in the series, selecting the breakpoint using the Supremum method greatly improves the results relative to the Infimum method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Filaments in Herschel molecular cloud images are found to exhibit a 'characteristic width'. This finding is in tension with spatial power spectra of the data, which show no indication of this characteristic scale. We demonstrate that this discrepancy is a result of the methodology adopted for measuring filament widths. First, we perform the previously used analysis technique on artificial scale-free data, and obtain a peaked width distribution of filament-like structures. Next, we repeat the analysis on three Herschel maps and reproduce the narrow distribution of widths found in previous studies - when considering the average width of each filament. However, the distribution of widths measured at all points along a filament spine is broader than the distribution of mean filament widths, indicating that the narrow spread (interpreted as a 'characteristic' width) results from averaging. Furthermore, the width is found to vary significantly from one end of a filament to the other. Therefore, the previously identified peak at 0.1 pc cannot be understood as representing the typical width of filaments. We find an alternative explanation by modelling the observed width distribution as a truncated power-law distribution, sampled with uncertainties. The position of the peak is connected to the lower truncation scale and is likely set by the choice of parameters used in measuring filament widths. We conclude that a 'characteristic' width of filaments is not supported by the available data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We discover that chiral symmetry does not act as an infrared attractor of the renormalization group flow under the impact of quantum gravity fluctuations. Thus, observationally viable quantum gravity models must respect chiral symmetry. In our truncation, asymptotically safe gravity does, as a chiral fixed point exists. A second non-chiral fixed point with massive fermions provides a template for models with dark matter. This fixed point disappears for more than 10 fermions, suggesting that an asymptotically safe ultraviolet completion for the standard model plus gravity enforces chiral symmetry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The simulation of unbounded domains inevitably requires an artificial truncation of the computational domain and spurious reflections resulting from this procedure are a common problem. In this paper, a perfectly matched layer formulation for Maxwell’s equations in purely hyperbolic form is presented. The model is applied to standard wave attenuation problems and particle-in-cell simulations of electron beam devices. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The paper has explored principle of block truncation coding (BTC) as a means to perform feature extraction for content based image classification. A variation of block truncation coding, named BTC with color clumps has been implemented in this work to generate feature vectors. Classification performance with the proposed technique of feature extraction has been compared to existing techniques. Two widely used public dataset named Wang dataset and Caltech dataset have been used for analyses and comparisons of classification performances based on four different metrics. The study has established BTC with color clumps as an effective alternative for feature extraction compared to existing methods. The experiments were carried out in RGB color space. Two different categories of classifiers viz. K Nearest Neighbor (KNN) Classifier and RIDOR Classifier were used to measure the classification performances. A paired t test was conducted to establish the statistical significance of the findings. Evaluation of classifier algorithms were done in receiver operating characteristic (ROC) space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hash functions have been used to address security requirements such as integrity, message authentication and non-repudiation. In WSNs, these functions are also used to preserve sensor nodes’ identity (ID) anonymity, i.e., they are used to generate and verify dynamic pseudonyms that are used to identify sensor nodes in a communication session. In this latter application, there is an open issue as to how long the output of a hash function (i.e. hash value) we should use in pseudonym generation. The longer the hash value, the longer is the pseudonym, thus the harder it is to guess a pseudonym that is generated by using a hash function. On the other hand, the use of a longer hash value also means that the bandwidth and energy costs in transmitting the pseudonym will be higher. As sensor nodes typically have limited resources and are battery powered, the balance between the protection level of ID anonymity and performance and energy costs incurred in providing such a protection is an open issue. This paper investigates the use of hash value truncation in preserving ID anonymity in WSNs and the impact of hash value truncation on four criteria attributes (security against brute force attacks, probability of pseudonym collisions, energy trade-off and end-to-end packet delivery delay). It reports the possible impacts of other factors including the type and usage of hash functions, sensor node capabilities, adversary capabilities, ability to resolve pseudonym collisions, network density and data collection rate. The results show that the impacts of these factors may be contradictory. Therefore, the determination of an optimal level of hash value truncation should consider all trade-offs brought by these factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In traditional family-based aquaculture breeding, each sire is mated to two dams in order to separate the sire's genetic effect from other family effects. Factorial mating involves more mates per sire and/or dam and result in more but smaller full- and/or half-sib families. For traits measured on sibs of selection candidates, factorial mating increases intensity of selection between families when selection is on traditional best linear unbiased prediction (BLUP) estimated breeding values (TRAD-EBV). However, selection on genome-wide estimated breeding values (GW-EBV), uses both within- and between-family effects and the advantage of factorial mating is less obvious. Our aim was to compare by computer simulation the impact of various factorial mating strategies for truncation selection on TRAD-EBV versus GW-EBV on rates of inbreeding, accuracy of selection and genetic gain for two traits, i.e. one measured on selection candidates (CAND-TRAIT) and one on their sibs (SIB-TRAIT). Results: Sire:dam mating ratios of 1:1, 2:2 or 10:10 were tested with 100, 200 or 1000 families produced from a constant number of parents (100 sires and 100 dams), and a mating ratio of 1:2 with 200 families produced from 100 sires and 200 dams. With GW-EBV, changing the mating ratio from 1:1 to 10:10 had a limited effect on genetic gain (less than 5 %) for both CAND-TRAIT and SIB-TRAIT, whereas with TRAD-EBV, selection intensity increased for SIB-TRAIT and genetic gain increased by 41 and 77 % for schemes with 3000 and 12,000 selection candidates, respectively. For both GW-EBV and TRAD-EBV, rates of inbreeding decreased by up to ~30 % when the mating ratio was changed from 1:1 to 10:10 for schemes with 3000 to 12,000 selection candidates. Similar results were found for alternative heritabilities of SIB-TRAIT and total number of tested sibs. Conclusions: Changing the sire:dam mating ratio from 1:1 to 10:10 increased genetic gain substantially with TRADEBV, mainly through increased selection intensity for the SIB-TRAIT, whereas with GW-EBV, it had a limited effect on genetic gain for both traits. Rates of inbreeding decreased for both selection methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The corner-free truncation (CFT) strategy is proposed to improve the efficiency of numerical simulation in computational electrodynamics. The spherical boundary, namely the CFT strategy, is built up in the Cartesian coordinate system, which has been implemented via making use of the impedance-matched layer. The proposed CFT strategy is used for terminating computational domain of the conventional finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) to absorb the outward electromagnetic waves. Moreover, based on the proposed boundary, the computation becomes simpler. The original FDTD computational domain is reduced to be nearly a half, and the computational resource is saved significantly, both of which are due to the fact that no curvilinear model is applied in truncating the boundary. The numerical simulations of target scattering problems have been achieved to validate the proposed algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A numerical procedure is developed, which uses the information contained in the slope of forward and back scattering to estimate the scattering function in the far forward and far back scattering using stepwise extrapolation. This procedure permits the determination of scattering coefficient, backscattered fraction and asymmetry parameter with an accuracy of better than 1%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a new approach to index color images using the features extracted from the error diffusion block truncation coding (EDBTC). The EDBTC produces two color quantizers and a bitmap image, which are further processed using vector quantization (VQ) to generate the image feature descriptor. Herein two features are introduced, namely, color histogram feature (CHF) and bit pattern histogram feature (BHF), to measure the similarity between a query image and the target image in database. The CHF and BHF are computed from the VQ-indexed color quantizer and VQ-indexed bitmap image, respectively. The distance computed from CHF and BHF can be utilized to measure the similarity between two images. As documented in the experimental result, the proposed indexing method outperforms the former block truncation coding based image indexing and the other existing image retrieval schemes with natural and textural data sets. Thus, the proposed EDBTC is not only examined with good capability for image compression but also offers an effective way to index images for the content-based image retrieval system. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The closed form of the sensitivity of modal flexibility for a real undamped system is derived based on the algebraic eigen sensitivity method. The formula is then adopted to detect the damage location and severity. The merit of the proposed approach over many other exiting modal flexibility sensitivity-based schemes is that it eliminates the adverse effect of the truncating higher-order modes. Moreover, the proposed approach could identify results with sufficient accuracy by employing one mode or multiple modes. To tackle the operational mode shape normalization problem ascribed to the unknown ambient excitation, the scaling factors are employed. A number of assumed damage scenarios in beams has been used to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed damage detection method. It is demonstrated that the proposed method is not sensitive to noise, and it can effectively identify single and multiple damage. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper proposes a novel image authentication scheme, aiming at tampering detection for block truncation coding (BTC) compressed image. The authentication code is generated by using the random number generator with a seed, and the size of the authentication code is based on the user's requirement, with each BTC-compressed image block being used to carry the authentication code using the data hiding method. In the proposed scheme, to obtain a high-quality embedded image, a reference table is used when the authentication code is embedded. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed scheme achieves high-quality embedded images and guarantees the capability of tamper detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here, we compared the highly voltage- and malate-dependent gating kinetics of R-/QUAC-type currents of guard cell protoplasts with QUAC1 expressed in oocytes. Truncations and mutation of QUAC1 indicated that the C-terminus is involved in the voltage-dependent gating mechanism of QUAC1.Anion transporters in plants play a fundamental role in volume regulation and signaling. Currently, two plasma membrane-located anion channel families—SLAC/SLAH and ALMT—are known. Among the ALMT family, the root-expressed ALuminium-activated Malate Transporter 1 was identified by comparison of aluminum-tolerant and Al3+-sensitive wheat cultivars and was subsequently shown to mediate voltage-independent malate currents. In contrast, ALMT12/QUAC1 (QUickly activating Anion Channel1) is expressed in guard cells transporting malate in an Al3+-insensitive and highly voltage-dependent manner. So far, no information is available about the structure and mechanism of voltage-dependent gating with the QUAC1 channel protein. Here, we analyzed gating of QUAC1-type currents in the plasma membrane of guard cells and QUAC1-expressing oocytes revealing similar voltage dependencies and activation–deactivation kinetics. In the heterologous expression system, QUAC1 was electrophysiologically characterized at increasing extra- and intracellular malate concentrations. Thereby, malate additively stimulated the voltage-dependent QUAC1 activity. In search of structural determinants of the gating process, we could not identify transmembrane domains common for voltage-sensitive channels. However, site-directed mutations and deletions at the C-terminus of QUAC1 resulted in altered voltage-dependent channel activity. Interestingly, the replacement of a single glutamate residue, which is conserved in ALMT channels from different clades, by an alanine disrupted QUAC1 activity. Together with C- and N-terminal tagging, these results indicate that the cytosolic C-terminus is involved in the voltage-dependent gating mechanism of QUAC1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a unified estimation method for semiparametric linear transformation models under general biased sampling schemes. The new estimator is obtained from a set of counting process-based unbiased estimating equations, developed through introducing a general weighting scheme that offsets the sampling bias. The usual asymptotic properties, including consistency and asymptotic normality, are established under suitable regularity conditions. A closed-form formula is derived for the limiting variance and the plug-in estimator is shown to be consistent. We demonstrate the unified approach through the special cases of left truncation, length bias, the case-cohort design, and variants thereof. Simulation studies and applications to real datasets are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bank cheques (checks) are still widely used all over the world for financial transactions. Huge volumes of handwritten bank cheques are processed manually every day in developing countries. In such a manual verification, user written information including date, signature, legal and courtesy amounts present on each cheque has to be visually verified. As many countries use cheque truncation systems (CTS) nowadays, much time, effort and money can be saved if this entire process of recognition, verification and data entry is done automatically using images of cheques. An attempt is made in this paper to present the state of the art in automatic processing of handwritten cheque images. It discusses the important results reported so far in preprocessing, extraction, recognition and verification of handwritten fields on bank cheques and highlights the positive directions of research till date. The paper has a comprehensive bibliography of many references as a support for researchers working in the field of automatic bank cheque processing. The paper also contains some information about the products available in the market for automatic cheque processing. To the best of our knowledge, there is no survey in the area of automatic cheque processing, and there is a need of such a survey to know the state of the art. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the purpose of the enactment of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA) by the U.S. Congress for saving the people from being the victim of the identity theft. Topics include provision of the FACTA in which merchant should provide only the last five digits of the credit and debit card number, removal of the non-truncated credit card receipt, and recovery of the actual damage by the consumers after providing the willfulness of the violation.

The role of local cortical activity in shaping neuronal responses is controversial. Among other questions, it is unknown how the diverse response patterns reported in vivo--lateral inhibition in some cases, approximately balanced excitation and inhibition (co-tuning) in others--compare to the local spread of synaptic connectivity. Excitatory and inhibitory activity might cancel each other out, or, whether one outweighs the other, receptive field properties might be substantially affected. As a step toward addressing this question, we used multiple intracellular recording in mouse primary auditory cortical slices to map synaptic connectivity among excitatory pyramidal cells and the two broad classes of inhibitory cells, fast-spiking (FS) and non-FS cells in the principal input layer. Connection probability was distance-dependent; the spread of connectivity, parameterized by Gaussian fits to the data, was comparable for all cell types, ranging from 85 to 114 &mgr;m. With brief stimulus trains, unitary synapses formed by FS interneurons were stronger than other classes of synapses; synapse strength did not correlate with distance between cells. The physiological data were qualitatively consistent with predictions derived from anatomical reconstruction. We also analyzed the truncation of neuronal processes due to slicing; overall connectivity was reduced but the spatial pattern was unaffected. The comparable spatial patterns of connectivity and relatively strong excitatoryinhibitory interconnectivity are consistent with a theoretical model where either lateral inhibition or co-tuning can predominate, depending on the structure of the input. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IL-36α, IL-36β, and IL-36γ (formerly IL-1F6, IL-1F8, and IL-1F9) are IL-1 family members that signal through the IL-1 receptor family members IL-1Rrp2 (IL-1RL2) and IL-1RAcP. IL-36Ra (formerly IL-1F5) has been reported to antagonize IL-36γ. However, our previous attempts to demonstrate IL-36Ra antagonism were unsuccessful. Here, we demonstrate that IL-36Ra antagonist activity is dependent upon removal of its N-terminal methionine. IL-36Ra starting at Val-2 is fully active and capable of inhibiting not only IL-36γ but also IL-36α and IL-36β. Val-2 of IL-36Ra lies 9 amino acids N-terminal to an A-X-Asp motif conserved in all IL-1 family members. In further experiments, we show that truncation of IL-36α, IL-36β, and IL-36γ to this same point increased their specific activity by ∼103–104-fold (from EC50 1 μg/l to EC50 1 ng/ml). Inhibition of truncated IL-36β activity required ∼10²–10³-fold excess IL-36Ra, similar to the ratio required for IL-1Ra to inhibit IL-1β. Chimeric receptor experiments demonstrated that the extracellular (but not cytoplasmic) domain of IL-1Rrp2 or IL-1R1 is required for inhibition by their respective natural antagonists. IL-36Ra bound to IL-1Rrp2, and pretreatment of IL-1Rrp2-expressing cells with IL-36Ra prevented IL-36β-mediated co-immunoprecipitation of IL-1Rrp2 with IL-1RAcP. Taken together, these results suggest that the mechanism of IL-36Ra antagonism is analogous to that of IL-1Ra, such that IL-36Ra binds to IL-1Rrp2 and prevents IL-1RAcP recruitment and the formation of a functional signaling complex. In addition, truncation of IL-36α, IL-36β, and IL-36γ dramatically enhances their activity, suggesting that post-translational processing is required for full activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The star centroid estimation is the most important operation, which directly affects the precision of attitude determination for star sensors. This paper presents a theoretical study of the systematic error introduced by the star centroid estimation algorithm. The systematic error is analyzed through a frequency domain approach and numerical simulations. It is shown that the systematic error consists of the approximation error and truncation error which resulted from the discretization approximation and sampling window limitations, respectively. A criterion for choosing the size of the sampling window to reduce the truncation error is given in this paper. The systematic error can be evaluated as a function of the actual star centroid positions under different Gaussian widths of star intensity distribution. In order to eliminate the systematic error, a novel compensation algorithm based on the least squares support vector regression (LSSVR) with Radial Basis Function (RBF) kernel is proposed. Simulation results show that when the compensation algorithm is applied to the 5-pixel star sampling window, the accuracy of star centroid estimation is improved from 0.06 to 6 × 10-5 pixels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this study, the buckling analysis of the simply supported truncated conical shell made of functionally graded materials (FGMs) is presented. The FGM truncated conical shell subjected to an axial compressive load and resting on Winkler–Pasternak type elastic foundations. The material properties of functionally graded shells are assumed to vary continuously through the thickness. The modified Donnell type stability and compatibility equations are solved by Galerkin’s method and the critical axial load of FGM truncated conical shells with and without elastic foundations have been found analytically. The appropriate formulas for homogenous and FGM cylindrical shells with and without elastic foundations are found as a special case. Several examples are presented to show the accuracy and efficiency of the formulation. Finally, parametric studies on the buckling of FGM truncated conical and cylindrical shells on elastic foundations are being investigated. These parameters include; power-law and exponential distributions of FGM, Winkler foundation modulus, Pasternak foundation modulus and aspect ratios of shells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Assessing solution error continues to be a formidable task when numerically solving practical flow problems. Currently, grid refinement is the primary method used for error assessment. The minimum grid spacing requirements to achieve design order accuracy for a structured-grid scheme are determined for several simple examples using truncation error evaluations on a sequence of meshes. For certain methods and classes of problems, obtaining design order may not be sufficient to guarantee low error. Furthermore, some schemes can require much finer meshes to obtain design order than would be needed to reduce the error to acceptable levels. Results are then presented from realistic problems that further demonstrate the challenges associated with using grid refinement studies to assess solution accuracy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]