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Typical state-of-the-art disaster management information systems (DMIS) cannot support responsive discovery and access of data and information needed to handle unforeseen emergencies. Adding semantics and relations to legacy data and transforming them to linked data (LD) can remove this limitation. The virtual repository presented in this article is a development environment for this purpose: It provides application developers with tools for incremental transformation of legacy data and information in the DMIS into LD as needed by the applications. The virtual repository also provides the applications with support for runtime access of LD created and maintained using its tools.

Lovastatin plays a role in lowering the cholesterol level in the human blood, especially the bad cholesterol or low density lipoproteins (LDL). Concurrently, lovastatin increase the good cholesterol or high density lipoproteins (HDL), to prevent the formation of plaque inside the blood vessels. The objective of this research was to experimentally optimize the lovastatin compound produced by Monascus purpureus FTC5357 under solid state fermentation (SSF) using oil palm frond (OPF). In order to identify the optimal condition to produce lovastatin, four parameters which were pH, initial moisture content, peptone and potassium, were optimized using Box-Behnken design. Based on the ANOVA analysis performed, initial moisture content, potassium and peptone contributed significantly to the lovastatin production. Meanwhile, pH had the least impact to the lovastatin production.. Peptone pronounced to be the most contributed factor, as the lovastatin production increased with the increasing of peptone in the substrate. Under optimized condition (pH 5.50, moisture content at 60%, 3.40 g of potassium, and 3.30 g of peptone) maximum lovastatin yield was 45.84 μg/g. The lovastatin produced through SSF using OPF as a substrate by Monascus purpureus FTC 5357 has a great potential to be utilized as a source of lovastatin in future.

Nowadays, developed regions in the world, including Taiwan, have a wealth of data and information, which if made available in time for disaster preparedness and response purposes, can help save lives and minimize damages. With a few exceptions, however, state-of-the-art data management information systems (DMIS) available in most countries do not provide adequate support for search, discovery, access and use of data and information residing in independent sources across institutional boundaries. This paper describes architecture and design of a distributed middleware-level framework, called Virtual Repository (VR), together with functionalities and structures of its key components. By leveraging linked data and related technologies and tools, VR aims to eliminate this limitation. Two applications, Mobile Assistant for Disasters (MAD) and Automatic Disaster Alert System for Tourists (ADAST) are described to demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of VR

Siberian hamsters (Phodopus sungorus) adapt to seasonal environmental conditions with marked changes in body mass, primarily in the form of adiposity. Winter-like conditions (e.g. short days) are sufficient to decrease body mass by approximately 30% in part via reductions in food intake. The neuroendocrine mechanisms responsible for these changes are not well understood, and homeostatic orexigenic/anorexigenic systems of the hypothalamus provide little explanation. We investigated the potential role of endocannabinoids, which are known modulators of appetite and metabolism, in mediating seasonal changes in energy balance. Specifically, we housed hamsters in long or short days for 0, 3, or 9 weeks and measured endocannabinoid levels in the hypothalamus, brainstem, liver and retroperitoneal white adipose tissue (RWAT). An additional group of males housed in short days for 25 weeks were also compared with long-day controls. Following 9 weeks in short days, levels of the endocannabinoid 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG) were significantly elevated in RWAT and reduced in brainstem, although they returned to long-day levels by week 25 in short-day males that had cycled back to summer-like energy balance. Endocannabinoid levels in these tissues correlated significantly with adiposity and change in body mass. No photoperiodic changes were observed in the hypothalamus or liver; however, sex differences in 2-AG levels were found in the liver (malesfemales). We further tested the effects of CB(1) receptor signalling on ingestive behaviour. Five daily injections of CB(1) antagonist SR141716 significantly reduced food intake and body mass but not food hoarding. Although the CB(1) agonist arachidonyl-2-chloroethylamide did not appreciably affect either ingestive behaviour, body mass was significantly elevated following 2 days of injections. Taken altogether, these findings demonstrate that endocannabinoid levels vary with sex and photoperiod in a site-specific manner, and that altered signalling at CB(1) receptors affects energy balance in Siberian hamsters.

Fully three‐dimensional Green’s functions are important for synthesizing the acoustic scattering response from submerged spherical shells due to excitation not only by actual radiating sources without special symmetries but also by induced sources on the shell which can characterize the effects of truncations or loadings of the empty undisturbed shell prototype. As in a previous two‐dimensional (2‐D) study of scattering due to axisymmetric (azimuthally independent) source configurations [J. M. Ho and L. B. Felsen, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 88, 2389–2414 (1990)], the goal is the derivation of self‐consistent hybrid ray‐mode asymptotic algorithms from appropriate rigorous alternative spectral representations; hybrid ray‐mode algorithms have been shown to be well matched to the wave phenomena which generate the scattered acoustic fields in the fluid in the mid‐ and high‐frequency range ka≳5, where k is the wave number in the fluid and ‘‘a’’ is the mean radius of the shell, and also under pulsed excitation. The presentation here deals with the rigorous spectral foundation, asymptotics, and ray‐acoustic interpretation of the rich variety of generic 3‐D wave phenomena encountered on the shell surface, which must be understood in order to treat the general case of arbitrary source and observer locations in a follow‐up paper.

A continuous Legendre transform spanning the polar angle (θ) domain −∞ π of the angular space. The rigorous solution is obtained by synthesis over a complex spectral continuum. Various alternative representations are derived from it, with special attention given to those that lend themselves to ray‐acou...

This paper treats sound radiation from a time‐harmonic point pressure source located either inside or outside a thin, homogeneous, infinitely long circular cylindrical elastic shell, which is immersed in different interior and exterior fluid media. This Green's function problem is attacked by a combination of the method of separation of variables and the method of images applied to an infinitely extended azimuthal (φ) domain. The reduced one‐dimensional problems in the cylindrical (r, φ, z) coordinates are solved by general spectral techniques in terms of one‐dimensional characteristic Green's functions gr, gφ, gz, which depend on one or both of the two complex spectral separation parameters (spatial wavenumbers) λ1 and λ2. While the one‐dimensional problems in the φ and z domains are straightforward, the presence of the shell in the radial domain introduces substantial complexity. The solution is obtained by defining the discontinuities in the pressure and normal displacement across the shell via recours...

In this paper, the general spectral integral form of the three‐dimensional pressure Green’s function for a fluid‐loaded thin elastic cylindrical shell [Felsen et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 87, xxx–xxx (1990)] is reduced to furnish two alternative representations that emphasize propagation phenomena associated essentially with the radial–azimuthal (r,φ) and the radial–longitudinal (r,z) coordinates, respectively. For the former, a decomposition of the point source field into a continuum of linearly phased z‐directed line sources defines the problem parametrization, whereas for the latter, the decomposition is into a discrete infinity of ring sources with azimuthally periodic (angular harmonic) linear phasing. The reduced forms obtained in this manner are then examined in appropriate parameter regimes. For external phenomena in the (r,φ)‐favored formulation, asymptotics leads to ray acoustic interpretations for the total field in terms of the conventional incident and reflected waves, augmented by shell‐guide...

This paper describes a program decomposition scheme that decomposes a C++ program into a set of concurrent tasks to support fault tolerant computing in distributed environments. This scheme consists of a C++ analyzer for program decomposition and a set of mechanisms to perform run-time object backup and error recovery. The analyzer uses a weighted-object approach to decompose an object into a set of concurrent tasks or combines a set of objects into a single task. The analyzer guarantees that the resulting decomposition will not violate system resource constraints. A reliable message passing protocol is also generated by the program analyzer for remote object references. Run time supports for fault tolerant computing based on the decomposed objects are discussed, which consist of an interface, a reliable message passing mechanism and a recovery mechanism. The message passing mechanism updates backup storage whenever a message is passed to avoid Domino effect. >

Extra-pelvic endometriosis in the thorax or umbilical hernia is rare. We report a case of thoracic endometriosis presenting with isolated chest pain and a case of endometriosis in an umbilical hernial sac mimicking incarceration. The clinical course and management of the patients and a literature review of these two unusual sites of endometriosis are discussed.

Helicobacter pylori is believed to play an important role in the aetiology of gastric cancer. There is a great variability in seropositivity and histological frequency of H. pylori in gastric cancer. The present prospective study investigates the prevalence of H. pylori infection in gastric cancer patients using 14C-urea breath testing.Patients with endoscopic biopsy-proven gastric cancer were fasted for 6 h prior to ingesting 18.5 x 104 Bq of 14C-urea cocktail orally. Breath samples were collected after 20 min by asking them to blow into a hyamine solution and measurements were read in a scintillation counter.Fifty out of 51 patients (98%) with gastric cancer were positive on the 14C-urea breath test compared to 29 patients (61%) who were positive on histology. There was no association between sex, age or tumour site, stage, differentiation, Lauren type and H. pylori status. The test was negative in one patient with cardial tumour in which histology of the resected specimen was also negative for the bacteria.Active H. pylori infection is highly prevalent in gastric cancer in a South-East Asian population. The 14C-urea breath test is a highly sensitive method for detecting the presence of H. pylori even in gastric adenocarcinoma irrespective of the stage.

Early and small hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) rarely presents with biliary ductal invasion. We present a case of early HCC presenting with biliary invasion, in the absence of a mass on computed tomographic scanning. The patient, a hepatitis B carrier, was initially diagnosed to have "liver fluke infection" after a "leaf-like structure" was found within the right hepatic duct on endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP). The specimen was retrieved with a Dormia basket. Histology revealed HCC. This report highlights an unusual case of early and small HCC presenting with biliary ductal invasion. A high index of suspicion has to be entertained in the background of hepatitis B regardless of the atypicality of presentation.

Recurrent rectal carcinoma following surgery carries an extremely poor prognosis and subsequent intervention is usually palliative. The incidence of local recurrence (LR) following curative surgery for rectal cancer has been reported to range from 3.7 to 50%. Current treatment strategy for rectal cancer aims at minimizing LR by either pre-operative radiotherapy or adjuvant chemoradiotherapy. Three hundred and fifty-four patients underwent surgical resection for rectal cancer in our department between April 1989 and March 1994, of which 47 (13%) were Dukes A, 88 (25%) Dukes B, 143 (40%) Dukes C and 76 (22%) Dukes D. Two hundred and seventy-eight (79%) patients were defined as having had curative resection (Dukes A, B and C). Overall, total LR occurred in 43 (12.2%) of 354 patients, while LR following curative resection occurred in 16 (9.4%) of the 278 patients. The incidence of LR became higher with increasing depth of invasion and lymph nodal involvement as shown by its direct relationship to stage of disease: Dukes A (0%), B (5.7%), C (14.6%) and D (22.3%). Local recurrence following resection for rectal cancer in our series is low. Pre-operative radiotherapy or adjuvant chemoradiotherapy may not further reduce this low incidence of LR significantly and its role needs to be re-evaluated for institutions with low local recurrence rates.

We present a case-report of a patient with a typical history and a barium enema study diagnostic of right-sided colonic cancer. Laparotomy and right hemicolectomy was carried out. Histological examination revealed Cytomegalovirus (CMV) colitis and the patient was subsequently tested positive for Human immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). Gastrointestinal symptoms are common in patients with Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and up to 10% of all AIDS patients have CMV colitis. The diagnostic criteria for CMV colitis is reviewed. AIDS is likely to become more common and we stress the awareness of this condition as well as the need for preoperative colonoscopy and histological diagnosis in patients with radiological diagnosis of colorectal carcinoma.

A 30-year-old female patient underwent oesophagectomy and colonic transposition for multiple oesophageal strictures associated with epidermolysis bullosa dystrophica. On the 9th postoperative day, she had convulsions and died, whilst in a state of severe hyperglycaemia, which was presumably iatrogenically induced by total parenteral nutrition. Autopsy and subsequent histological examination revealed that the cause of death was acute subarachnoid haemorrhage from ruptured, intracranial cryptic arteriovenous malformations. Postmortem vitreous biochemistry confirmed that death had occurred in a state of hyperglycaemia. The pathology of intracranial vascular malformations and the medico-legal implications of this case are discussed.

Twenty cases of hepatic granulomas seen in the Department of Medicine over the period of 8 years from 1981-1988 were reviewed. Prolonged fever and jaundice were the commoner presentations. While the aetiology was varied, patients with tuberculosis and idiopathic causes formed the major groups. There were also 2 rare causes, one due to cytomegalovirus infection and the other a result of allopurinol hypersensitivity. The idiopathic group of cases fared well but those with tuberculosis did badly and 2 out of 6 died. The absence of pulmonary involvement and the high incidence of jaundice and liver dysfunction in the patients with tuberculosis were the other striking features.

Cylindrical shells with endcaps of various types are useful prototypes for a class of submerged elastic structures of current interest period. In the mid‐ and high‐frequency ranges (ka≳3, where ‘‘a’’ is the radius of the cylinder), ray acoustics offers a physical‐based methodology for computing the scattered signature. Restricted to thin shell dynamics, hemispherically capped cylinders are investigated by combining results from our previous studies of infinite cylindrical and full spherical shells [Felsen et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 87, 554–569 (1990); J. M. Ho and L. B. Felsen, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 88, 2389–2414 (1990)]. Rays from arbitrarily incident plane waves are traced to the cylinder and give rise there to geometrically reflected and phase matched shell guided supersonic wavefields, each with its own distinct trajectories. The surface guided fields follow helical paths on the cylindrical portion, which are smoothly matched to great circle paths on the hemispheres, and are turned back there toward the cylinder at a pitch‐dependent caustic. The total field is synthesized by the sum of all possible ray paths, traversing the structure azimuthally and longitudinally, which reach the observer. Quantitative expressions are obtained by including ray field launching, detachment, and propagation coefficients. Attention is also given to conical endcaps and to conical sections with smoothly joined spherical caps. [Work supported by ONR.]

The rigorously derived ray‐acoustic algorithm for source‐excited fluid‐loaded thin elastic spherical shells [J. M. Ho and L. B. Felsen, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 88, 2389–2414 (1990)] is implemented numerically for far‐field plane‐wave and point‐source scattering, and is compared with reference solutions based on exact spherical harmonic expansions. These comparisons permit an assessment of the range of applicability of thin‐shell theory, and they indicate when and how [cf. S. P. Kargl and P. L. Marston, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 85, 1014–1028 (1989)] the algorithm should be modified phenomenologically to accommodate thick shells. The generally good agreement between the observable‐based ray‐acoustic algorithm and the reference solution provides further confirmation of the utility of the physically incisive ray acoustic parametrization for this canonical problem. Some preliminary results are presented for applying the ray‐acoustic scheme to a rigidly baffled hemisphere. [Work supported by ONR and DTRC.]

A general theory, in terms of complex wavenumber spectra, has been developed for point‐source‐excited wave phenomena associated with thin elastic spherical shells with exterior and(or) interior fluid loading, and there has been performed a high‐frequency asymptotic reduction of the new rigorous spectral integral forms that quantifies a ray theoretic interpretation and construction of the results [L. B. Felsen and J. M. Ho, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Suppl. 1 86, S5 (1989)]. By appealing to the rotational symmetry with respect to the polar axis passing through the source and the center of the shell, the problem has been azimuthally independent. For excitation mechanisms without rotational invariance, produced either by direct source configurations or by induced sources generated from truncations or other perturbations of the spherical shell prototype, it is necessary to treat the fully three‐dimensional phenomenology. Such general source distributions can be synthesized by contributions from arbitrarily placed po...

The asymptotic results deduced from the rigorous formal theory [L. B. Felsen and J. M. Ho, preceding abstract] are examined here within the framework of ray acoustics. It is shown how the saddle points in the two‐dimensional complex spectral domain systematically furnish the azimuthal and meridional invariants that appear less directly in previously constructed ray acoustic forms, and how this parametrization also applies to shell‐guided nonresonant and resonant interactions. These ray interpretations take place most generally in the nonperiodic infinite azimuthal and meridional domains so as to describe traveling waves that can subsequently synthesize effects due to truncations or other perturbations on the shell. The relation between ray fields in the infinite nonphysical and the physical domains is explored, especially for ray congruences that synthesize resonances on the shell by self‐consistent closure. By its very nature, the presentation here emphasizes the intimate connection between ray fields and spectra (wavenumbers), and thereby may furnish some guidelines for spectral processing techniques. [Work supported by ONR and DTRC.]The asymptotic results deduced from the rigorous formal theory [L. B. Felsen and J. M. Ho, preceding abstract] are examined here within the framework of ray acoustics. It is shown how the saddle points in the two‐dimensional complex spectral domain systematically furnish the azimuthal and meridional invariants that appear less directly in previously constructed ray acoustic forms, and how this parametrization also applies to shell‐guided nonresonant and resonant interactions. These ray interpretations take place most generally in the nonperiodic infinite azimuthal and meridional domains so as to describe traveling waves that can subsequently synthesize effects due to truncations or other perturbations on the shell. The relation between ray fields in the infinite nonphysical and the physical domains is explored, especially for ray congruences that synthesize resonances on the shell by self‐consistent closure. By its very nature, the presentation here emphasizes the intimate connection between ray fields an...

Plenty of previous motor speed control system approaches are based on the assumption that motor speed to be controlled is available for measurement. In order to get more accuracy, the assumption is not suitable, while the time lag problem the processing time of the control program and the motor speed detecting may cause the system unstable. This paper proposed to use a predictive state observer to reconstruct actual motor speed, calculate the estimated value of the instaneous speed of the next sampling instant before the actual next sampling instant is reached. Comparing their results it has shown that this new approach is better then the conventional ones.

Cardiac Amyloidosis was first observed by Vichow in 1957. Since then many more cases have been documented, but there has been no case report of mortality from severe cardiac involvement in the local literature. We describe one such case seen in the Singapore General Hospital and review briefly the clinico-pathological data on this uncommon entity.

We consider the problem of finding a minimum diameter spanning tree (MDST) of a set of n points in the Euclidean plane. The diameter of a spanning tree is the maximum distance between any two points in the tree. We give a characterization of an MDST and present a t(n3 time algorithm for solving the problem. We also show that for a weighted undirected graph, the problem of determining if a spanning tree with total weight and diameter upper bounded, respectively, by two given parameters C and D exists is N P-complete. The geometrical minimum diameter Steiner tree problem, in which new points are allowed to be part of the spanning tree, is shown to be solvable in O(n) time.

This case report describes a primary hepatic leiomyoma presenting as a mass lesion detected on ultrasonography of the abdomen in an asymptomatic hepatitis B carrier on routine surveillance. Primary leiomyomata of the liver are rare occurrences, with only 9 cases reported in the literature. The presenting features of primary hepatic leiomyomata and diagnostic approach towards such lesions are discussed. The significance of such tumours in the immunocompromised is also mentioned.

A continuous Legendre transform spanning the polar angle (θ) domain − ∞ π of the angular space. The rigorous solution is obtained by synthesis over a complex spectral continuum, and various alternative representations are derived from it. Special attention is given to rigorous high‐frequency asymptotic forms that describe the wave phenomena in terms of incident and geometrically reflected ray fields, and also in terms of surface guided ray fields. The latter are excited by phase matching of the incident ray field to the traveling wave modes in the shell, and they reach the observer by phase matched detachment [see, also, P. L. Marston, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 83, 25–37 (1988)]. The phase matching applies to directly excited leaky waves as well as to waves that decay initially into the fluid; the latter are excited from an exterior source by evanescent tunneling. [Work supported by the Office of Naval Research and David Taylor Research Center.]